For those who don't know, I'm a pretty "traditional" kind of guy. There are certain things that just don't need to be changed. I prefer hymns greatly over contemporary choruses. I bowhunt rather than gun hunt. I can't cook a turkey without making the cornbread & sausage stuffing that goes with it. I do experiment from time to time with new stuff, but, for the most part, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?
One of the most firmly held traditions in our family are the "Grandma Corey" cookies at Christmastime. Grandma Corey is my great-great-great-great grandmother on my mom's side. As my mom says, "Christmas officially starts in our house with the first batch of G.C. cookies". These are as traditional as it gets for me. The chances of me changing this recipe are about as slim as the chances of my Poppop getting a tattoo and a nose ring. The same chances as my Uncle Tom in Minnesota voting for Al Franken. But, tonight, I made a change...
We had made a batch of the cookies already today, and needed to make a second batch, but, alas, there was not quite enough flour. Staring me in the face from the cabinet was a container of cocoa powder. Hmmmm? Might I use that? Make some kind of chocolate Grandma Corey cookie? So, I consulted with my Mom and her mother, Mee Mee. Both seemed to think that it just might work. I looked at the container, and it read, "Add 1/3 cup to choco chip cookies for at chocolatey treat!" I measured out my flour. The recipe calls for 4 cups. I had 3 2/3 cups. Do you see? The flour & 1/3 cup of cocoa add up to 4! It was as if Grandma Corey herself was looking down and saying to me, "Jeff, it's OK to try it..." So, I gave it a whirl. After I made the batter, I took a taste. Hmmm...pretty good....chocolatey....not bitter at all...
As I type, the batter is chilling in the fridge until 8:30, when I will bake the first batch. We'll see what happens. I will update when the first batch is done.
I just might be bringing Pop Pop down to the tattoo parlor...
*********UPDATE********************
The cookies are great! just the right amount of cocoa and a little extra sugar, and they are fantastic. Tomorrow we'll put on the icing! woo-hoo!
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
What's that smell?? Part 2
So, for the past 2 weeks, there's been a smell in the basement. It started as a faint odor, and grew from there. At the end of last week, we got our septic tank pumped, thinking that the smell was maybe coming from our tank, which is only a couple feet from the house. Empty tank, smell was still here.
Today, I get a phone call at work from my beautiful bride. One of those "good news-bad news" calls. The good news was, she discovered where the smell was coming from. The bad news was, the smell was coming from our freezer FULL of meat, which had been (for the past 3 weeks) not closed all the way!!! It was my fault. I was the last one to close it, so I take the blame...
The good news is (and I thank God for this!) that we only lost about a quarter of the meat. I guess because of the moisture in the air, most of the meat in the freezer was encased in a block of frosty ice. The meat in the door, and the front part of the freezer, however, was encased in green/black/red goo. Smelly goo. And, the goo was on the bottom of the freezer. And it had leaked out of the freezer door, and was pooled on the basement floor.
The other good news that I really thank God for, is that the meat that we lost was mostly ground beef and ground venison. We unfortunately lost a few venison backstraps (the best part of the deer), and some venison steaks. Although, we just got a quarter of a cow (that's when i didn't close the door all the way), and the prime beef cuts were frozen solid in the back of the freezer (sirloin steaks, rib steaks, t-bones, roasts, london broils, etc), along with the last cuts from the half a pig we got last year (2 fresh shoulder roasts, spare ribs, and scrapple). In other words, the stuff we lost is relatively inexpensive to replace.
So, in the midst of chipping away at a glacier in the freezer this evening, I actually found myself feeling happy, and thanking God that it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Yes, I'm bummed about losing some of the BEST ground beef I've ever had (from a local farm), but, it could have been worse. A LOT worse.
And, the smell is gone...
Today, I get a phone call at work from my beautiful bride. One of those "good news-bad news" calls. The good news was, she discovered where the smell was coming from. The bad news was, the smell was coming from our freezer FULL of meat, which had been (for the past 3 weeks) not closed all the way!!! It was my fault. I was the last one to close it, so I take the blame...
The good news is (and I thank God for this!) that we only lost about a quarter of the meat. I guess because of the moisture in the air, most of the meat in the freezer was encased in a block of frosty ice. The meat in the door, and the front part of the freezer, however, was encased in green/black/red goo. Smelly goo. And, the goo was on the bottom of the freezer. And it had leaked out of the freezer door, and was pooled on the basement floor.
The other good news that I really thank God for, is that the meat that we lost was mostly ground beef and ground venison. We unfortunately lost a few venison backstraps (the best part of the deer), and some venison steaks. Although, we just got a quarter of a cow (that's when i didn't close the door all the way), and the prime beef cuts were frozen solid in the back of the freezer (sirloin steaks, rib steaks, t-bones, roasts, london broils, etc), along with the last cuts from the half a pig we got last year (2 fresh shoulder roasts, spare ribs, and scrapple). In other words, the stuff we lost is relatively inexpensive to replace.
So, in the midst of chipping away at a glacier in the freezer this evening, I actually found myself feeling happy, and thanking God that it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Yes, I'm bummed about losing some of the BEST ground beef I've ever had (from a local farm), but, it could have been worse. A LOT worse.
And, the smell is gone...
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Where have I been???
Sorry to all 3 of you who check this blog regularly...
The past month has been a little hectic, and I haven't had much time to blog. Here is a quick update of things at our house:
1) The Christmas Tree is up
2) We now have FOUR deer in the freezer, and a quarter of a cow...
3) Thanksgiving was great!
4) I'm starting my Master's Degree in Music Education in January
5) I'm currently in the middle of concert week (3 concerts in 8 days)
6) God is Good. ALL the time!
7) We have decided to live a debt-free life (more details to come later)
8) We have canceled our credit cards. Yay!
9) Pellet stove is great!
10) Danielle is the best wife ever!
There you have it!
The past month has been a little hectic, and I haven't had much time to blog. Here is a quick update of things at our house:
1) The Christmas Tree is up
2) We now have FOUR deer in the freezer, and a quarter of a cow...
3) Thanksgiving was great!
4) I'm starting my Master's Degree in Music Education in January
5) I'm currently in the middle of concert week (3 concerts in 8 days)
6) God is Good. ALL the time!
7) We have decided to live a debt-free life (more details to come later)
8) We have canceled our credit cards. Yay!
9) Pellet stove is great!
10) Danielle is the best wife ever!
There you have it!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
My trip to Kentucky
I got back from Kentucky yesterday afternoon. It was a marathon trip. We departed church on Wednesday at 7:30PM, drove until we reached Staunton, VA at 2:30 in the morning. Slept in a hotel until 7AM, ate at Cracker Barrel, got in the truck, and arrived in Lynch, Kentucky at 2:00PM on Thursday afternoon. Do you think we stayed long?? NOPE!!
We got back in the truck at about 5:00PM Thursday, drove back to Staunton, VA, arrived at midnight, stayed at a hotel, got up at 6 AM, ate at WAFFLE HOUSE!!!! and then arrived back at church at about 3 PM Friday afternoon. So, in 43.5 hours, I drove to Kentucky and back, stopping only for sleep and meals. about 25 of those hours were actual driving time. Woah!
Why all this craziness? Because we're planning a mission trip. Lynch, KY is a coal mining town with a population right around 1,000 people. The mine is the main employer in the town, and most everybody else is unemployed. The work at the mine is not consistent, as it fluctuates with the price of oil. Oil goes way up, people buy more coal. Oil comes back down, people stop buying coal, and the mine lays off the workers. A large number of the houses are in terrible shape, and the people are either 1) Disabled and can't afford to have the work done, or 2) able to do the work themselves, but can't afford to buy the materials. There is also a pretty big drug problem in the town.
So, we're partnering with a small organization whose purpose is to minister to the people of this part of Kentucky. We visited some of the potential houses that we'll be working on. There is no building code enforcement, so a lot of the houses that have had work done are substandard. For example, a lot of people don't have indoor plumbing, but if they do, many of them drain into the river that flows through the town. Some houses just have a hole below the bathroom, and some still have outhouses. At another house we saw, the daughter built a house right behind her parents' house, and until recently, didn't have power at all. She didn't have water either. She now has a garden hose that runs from her parents' house to hers so she has some water.
In the past 10 years, we've been told, the town has made some improvements, due largely in part to church groups and mission groups that have come in to help build. We're hoping to bring a group of 15-20 people to do some work. We'll see what happens...
Highlights:
1) Driving through the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. I've driven there a couple times, and it is just about one of the most beautiful places in the Eastern US. Especially when it's November, and the leaves are still in their autumnal glory!
2) Climbing Black Mountain on the VA/KY border. It's the highest point in KY (about 4,300 ft.), and the road that goes up it is full of switchbacks and no guardrails. The view at the top is awesome!
3) Waffle House!! OK, so it isn't the finest in cuisine, but every time I've been south, I've wanted to go to one. I finally got my chance. How was it? In one word...GREASE! It was great. The best part were the hash browns. They come plain, or with you choice of the following toppings: cheese, ham, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, chili, or jalapeno peppers. Or, you can get them "all the way". That means "all of the above". Which do you think I got??? That's right, ALL THE WAY!!! No regrets!
Add a generous portion of grits and sweet tea at every food stop, and i'm a happy guy!
And now, here's a video that has absolutely NOTHING to do with this post. It's a tribute to John Williams. He's the guy that wrote the music to Star Wars, Superman, ET, Jaws, and many others.
We got back in the truck at about 5:00PM Thursday, drove back to Staunton, VA, arrived at midnight, stayed at a hotel, got up at 6 AM, ate at WAFFLE HOUSE!!!! and then arrived back at church at about 3 PM Friday afternoon. So, in 43.5 hours, I drove to Kentucky and back, stopping only for sleep and meals. about 25 of those hours were actual driving time. Woah!
Why all this craziness? Because we're planning a mission trip. Lynch, KY is a coal mining town with a population right around 1,000 people. The mine is the main employer in the town, and most everybody else is unemployed. The work at the mine is not consistent, as it fluctuates with the price of oil. Oil goes way up, people buy more coal. Oil comes back down, people stop buying coal, and the mine lays off the workers. A large number of the houses are in terrible shape, and the people are either 1) Disabled and can't afford to have the work done, or 2) able to do the work themselves, but can't afford to buy the materials. There is also a pretty big drug problem in the town.
So, we're partnering with a small organization whose purpose is to minister to the people of this part of Kentucky. We visited some of the potential houses that we'll be working on. There is no building code enforcement, so a lot of the houses that have had work done are substandard. For example, a lot of people don't have indoor plumbing, but if they do, many of them drain into the river that flows through the town. Some houses just have a hole below the bathroom, and some still have outhouses. At another house we saw, the daughter built a house right behind her parents' house, and until recently, didn't have power at all. She didn't have water either. She now has a garden hose that runs from her parents' house to hers so she has some water.
In the past 10 years, we've been told, the town has made some improvements, due largely in part to church groups and mission groups that have come in to help build. We're hoping to bring a group of 15-20 people to do some work. We'll see what happens...
Highlights:
1) Driving through the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. I've driven there a couple times, and it is just about one of the most beautiful places in the Eastern US. Especially when it's November, and the leaves are still in their autumnal glory!
2) Climbing Black Mountain on the VA/KY border. It's the highest point in KY (about 4,300 ft.), and the road that goes up it is full of switchbacks and no guardrails. The view at the top is awesome!
3) Waffle House!! OK, so it isn't the finest in cuisine, but every time I've been south, I've wanted to go to one. I finally got my chance. How was it? In one word...GREASE! It was great. The best part were the hash browns. They come plain, or with you choice of the following toppings: cheese, ham, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, chili, or jalapeno peppers. Or, you can get them "all the way". That means "all of the above". Which do you think I got??? That's right, ALL THE WAY!!! No regrets!
Add a generous portion of grits and sweet tea at every food stop, and i'm a happy guy!
And now, here's a video that has absolutely NOTHING to do with this post. It's a tribute to John Williams. He's the guy that wrote the music to Star Wars, Superman, ET, Jaws, and many others.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Deer Season Scorecard
Well, the first part of the bow season is done, and yesterday began the extended permit bow season. The extended season is basically a money grab conducted by the state of New Jersey. Your regular bow license ($27) is good for hunting in Sept & Oct. If you want to hunt Nov & Dec, it's an extra $28. Oh, and if you want to shoot a buck, you have to now buy a $28 buck tag. Oh, and if you want to hunt in more that one hunting zone, you have to buy a $28 permit for each zone. Then, some guys go pheasant hunting ($40), or muzzle loader hunting ($28 for each zone permit, $28 for buck tag). Wow! That's a lot of money the state gets! The only permits I buy are the buck tag (you never know when a big one will walk by), and one or two zone permits. Some guys spend a fortune just on permits & tags, and don't get much chance to get out hunting.
So, anyway, so far, my deer hunting season has been productive. I have 3 deer in the freezer so far. One big doe, one small doe, and a button buck. Then there was another doe that I shot at, and missed. Just as I released the arrow, my left arm (holding the bow) dropped, and I saw the arrow go right under her. Oh well. A missed deer is better than an injured deer.
So the score is Jeff 3, Deer 1. We'll see how the rest of the season pans out. I'm hoping to get 2 more big deer in the freezer, which will get us through a good part of the next year. I've only blogged about one deer this year. Here's the post if you want to read it.
So, anyway, so far, my deer hunting season has been productive. I have 3 deer in the freezer so far. One big doe, one small doe, and a button buck. Then there was another doe that I shot at, and missed. Just as I released the arrow, my left arm (holding the bow) dropped, and I saw the arrow go right under her. Oh well. A missed deer is better than an injured deer.
So the score is Jeff 3, Deer 1. We'll see how the rest of the season pans out. I'm hoping to get 2 more big deer in the freezer, which will get us through a good part of the next year. I've only blogged about one deer this year. Here's the post if you want to read it.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Finally, a new post
So, I've been busy lately. All 3 boys have had pnuemonia, and I've had a ton of stuff going on. With Election Day right around the corner, here is a clip for your consideration. This is a "Man on the Street" type interview, done by the Howard Stern show. now, i don't listen to Howard, but I saw this clip on Reepicheep. It's staggers the mind that the people interviewed are blindly supporting Obama, and have absolutely NO IDEA what he stands for. In fact, the interviewer asks them questions about Obama, and puts McCain's platform positions in the questions, and they don't even realize that they are McCain's ideals. Listen to this...
Saturday, October 4, 2008
A Great Saturday!
Today was a fantastic day. Some of the highlights were:
1) Getting to sleep in until 7:30
2) My breakfast - 2 eggs, perfectly over-easy, wheat toast, and cafe con leche from our espresso maker, made with Cafe Bustelo.
3) Mowing the lawn with the boys
4) Getting other yard work done
5) Laying on the couch with Ryan & Kevin, watching hunting videos while Sean slept and Beautiful bride was grocery shopping
6) The super awesome cross rib roast with delicious homemade mashed potatoes and broccoli for dinner, made by the loving hands of my spectacularly beautiful bride.
7) The pan gravy that she made along with the meat.
8) The smell of the roast in the oven when i came inside from yard work and playing with the boys all afternoon.
9) The caramelized onions that were atop the roast (I really liked dinner!)
10) Picking up worms and caterpillars with all 3 boys.
11) Getting my voice back (sort of...)
12) A feeling of accomplishment
13) Having a day that was Blessed by God in every way!
1) Getting to sleep in until 7:30
2) My breakfast - 2 eggs, perfectly over-easy, wheat toast, and cafe con leche from our espresso maker, made with Cafe Bustelo.
3) Mowing the lawn with the boys
4) Getting other yard work done
5) Laying on the couch with Ryan & Kevin, watching hunting videos while Sean slept and Beautiful bride was grocery shopping
6) The super awesome cross rib roast with delicious homemade mashed potatoes and broccoli for dinner, made by the loving hands of my spectacularly beautiful bride.
7) The pan gravy that she made along with the meat.
8) The smell of the roast in the oven when i came inside from yard work and playing with the boys all afternoon.
9) The caramelized onions that were atop the roast (I really liked dinner!)
10) Picking up worms and caterpillars with all 3 boys.
11) Getting my voice back (sort of...)
12) A feeling of accomplishment
13) Having a day that was Blessed by God in every way!
Friday, September 26, 2008
We really need some new movies
We have an absolutely pathetic movie collection. With the exception of the Indiana Jones Trilogy, The Green Mile, and Saving Private Ryan.
Other than that, it pretty much stinks.
So here we sit on a Friday night with nothing to do...again...trying to pick a movie to watch. Last time this happened, we had the grave misfortune of watching Jurassic Park 3. Boy was that a bad choice.
Anybody else just sitting around tonight? Ugh. I so want to do something. HELP!
Other than that, it pretty much stinks.
So here we sit on a Friday night with nothing to do...again...trying to pick a movie to watch. Last time this happened, we had the grave misfortune of watching Jurassic Park 3. Boy was that a bad choice.
Anybody else just sitting around tonight? Ugh. I so want to do something. HELP!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
The venison wagon has arrived!!
Success!!!
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Today was an absolutely beautiful early fall day. Completely clear, blue sky, temps in the upper 40's early on, got into maybe the mid 60's later. I was out in the woods at 6:30 AM, set up in my tree for the first hunt of the season. As far as hunting days go, this was a great one. Lots of activity in the woods. I had 2 juvenile red tail hawks come gliding through the trees, and land on a limb about 20 yards from where I was sitting. It was great! Later on, one of them came back again, and buzzed right through the woods. I was amazed at how they can so easily navigate their way through the trees going so fast! My stand is set up on Pastor Rick's property, which is just bursting with wildlife!
At about 8ish, 3 does came in from my right. The spot where I was set up was on the top of a ridge on a well used path, about 30 yards beyond a fork in the path. I watched these 3 does work their way up the ridge towards me, but they decided to take the left fork. (I was on the right fork).
They passed about 15 yards away behind my tree, and I was not able to get around the tree with my bow to take a shot. So I enjoyed watching them take their time going by. The good thing was that they were not aware of me at all, so they'll be back again another day. I was pretty bummed about not having a shot, but I was still enjoying the day.
At about 8:45 AM, I thought I saw something. Across the path from me was a clearing in the trees, to the right of which is a big patch of bushes & stuff. Through all the bramble, sure enough, I saw part of a deer's face, maybe 40 yards away, walking straight towards me. By the time I turned and got my bow ready, these 2 does were already only 25 yards away. The bigger of the two actually stopped, looked in my direction, and kept coming. Good! She didn't see me!
I could see where they were heading, and it was a good place to be. The bushes opened up in to the clearing about 15-20 yards from my tree, and that's where they were going. No sooner did I draw back my Hoyt Supreme, loaded with my new Gold Tip 7595 with the Muzzy 125 grain broadhead leading the way, and the big doe came out into the clearing, and stopped right in front of me, perfectly broadside, just begging to be in my freezer. WHUMP!!
I saw the arrow hit home, and she jumped, and turn & ran back down the other side of this little ridge. So, I waited about 20 minutes, climbed down, got my arrow, and walked back to Rick's house. He brought the quad out, and we set out to track the deer. Wasn't too difficult to do. The Muzzy broadhead did it's job. She ran about 35 yards, and that was all she wrote. Great double lung shot. Once we got the deer back to my truck, Pastor Rick suggested we sing the Doxology in thanks to God for His Providence. So Rick, me, and our friend Dave, who was over to fix Rick's chainsaw, sang the Doxology, out in the clean fall air, giving praise to God, from Whom all blessings flow!
Thank you, Lord, for a beautiful day!
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Today was an absolutely beautiful early fall day. Completely clear, blue sky, temps in the upper 40's early on, got into maybe the mid 60's later. I was out in the woods at 6:30 AM, set up in my tree for the first hunt of the season. As far as hunting days go, this was a great one. Lots of activity in the woods. I had 2 juvenile red tail hawks come gliding through the trees, and land on a limb about 20 yards from where I was sitting. It was great! Later on, one of them came back again, and buzzed right through the woods. I was amazed at how they can so easily navigate their way through the trees going so fast! My stand is set up on Pastor Rick's property, which is just bursting with wildlife!
At about 8ish, 3 does came in from my right. The spot where I was set up was on the top of a ridge on a well used path, about 30 yards beyond a fork in the path. I watched these 3 does work their way up the ridge towards me, but they decided to take the left fork. (I was on the right fork).
They passed about 15 yards away behind my tree, and I was not able to get around the tree with my bow to take a shot. So I enjoyed watching them take their time going by. The good thing was that they were not aware of me at all, so they'll be back again another day. I was pretty bummed about not having a shot, but I was still enjoying the day.
At about 8:45 AM, I thought I saw something. Across the path from me was a clearing in the trees, to the right of which is a big patch of bushes & stuff. Through all the bramble, sure enough, I saw part of a deer's face, maybe 40 yards away, walking straight towards me. By the time I turned and got my bow ready, these 2 does were already only 25 yards away. The bigger of the two actually stopped, looked in my direction, and kept coming. Good! She didn't see me!
I could see where they were heading, and it was a good place to be. The bushes opened up in to the clearing about 15-20 yards from my tree, and that's where they were going. No sooner did I draw back my Hoyt Supreme, loaded with my new Gold Tip 7595 with the Muzzy 125 grain broadhead leading the way, and the big doe came out into the clearing, and stopped right in front of me, perfectly broadside, just begging to be in my freezer. WHUMP!!
I saw the arrow hit home, and she jumped, and turn & ran back down the other side of this little ridge. So, I waited about 20 minutes, climbed down, got my arrow, and walked back to Rick's house. He brought the quad out, and we set out to track the deer. Wasn't too difficult to do. The Muzzy broadhead did it's job. She ran about 35 yards, and that was all she wrote. Great double lung shot. Once we got the deer back to my truck, Pastor Rick suggested we sing the Doxology in thanks to God for His Providence. So Rick, me, and our friend Dave, who was over to fix Rick's chainsaw, sang the Doxology, out in the clean fall air, giving praise to God, from Whom all blessings flow!
Thank you, Lord, for a beautiful day!
Monday, September 15, 2008
What's that old Lynyrd Skynyrd song?
You know..."That Smell"?
Well, today on the way home from work, my beautiful bride texted me the following message:
"The dryer smells like dead animal." Great.
When I got home, I checked the dryer, and didn't smell anything. For a minute, I really thought she was imagining things. That is, until I got down behind the dryer and took a good sniff. Yup, dead animal smell. I disconnected the vent hose, and dumped it out. No animal there, just a little lint.
So, I got down on the floor behind the dryer and looked into the vent pipe. Looking into the shadowy pipe, I couldn't see anything at first, but then a shape became noticeable in the darkness...a grey shape with a long tail. Thankfully, not moving.
So I donned a plastic bag on my hand, reached in, and pulled out the source of the offending odor, a dead mouse.
I guess it must have climbed up into the dryer vent outside, and then found itself hurtling down the 4 feet of hose to a place from where there is no escape. What a way to come home from work on a long Monday!
I'm just thankful it didn't somehow work it's way into the dryer by the clothes. That could have been a disaster! I wonder what the rest of the week has in store??
Well, today on the way home from work, my beautiful bride texted me the following message:
"The dryer smells like dead animal." Great.
When I got home, I checked the dryer, and didn't smell anything. For a minute, I really thought she was imagining things. That is, until I got down behind the dryer and took a good sniff. Yup, dead animal smell. I disconnected the vent hose, and dumped it out. No animal there, just a little lint.
So, I got down on the floor behind the dryer and looked into the vent pipe. Looking into the shadowy pipe, I couldn't see anything at first, but then a shape became noticeable in the darkness...a grey shape with a long tail. Thankfully, not moving.
So I donned a plastic bag on my hand, reached in, and pulled out the source of the offending odor, a dead mouse.
I guess it must have climbed up into the dryer vent outside, and then found itself hurtling down the 4 feet of hose to a place from where there is no escape. What a way to come home from work on a long Monday!
I'm just thankful it didn't somehow work it's way into the dryer by the clothes. That could have been a disaster! I wonder what the rest of the week has in store??
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Ryan's first ER trip...
There was an incident yesterday.
Let's just say an accidentally flying toy (not intended to fly) met Ryan's forehead. The cut wasn't all that big, but since it was on his forehead, and it wasn't staying closed, we decided that Daddy and Ryan should talke a ride to the local hospital to have it checked out.
The cut was small, but it was "Deep and Wide" (who remembers that Sunday School song?) so the Dr. gave me a choice - either Steri-strips or stitches. The drawback to the Steri-strips, said the Dr., are that they cannot get wet at all, and that Ryan would have to "take it easy" for 4 days. Well, let's see...
So, I opted for the stitches.
Ryan, needless to say, was not happy AT ALL with the prospect of needle & thread going through his forehead, but after 2 lollipops from the nurse and the promise of any dinner & dessert he wanted from Daddy, he agreed to let the Dr. sew him up.
The worse parts of the whole ordeal were:
1) Waiting for about an hour and a half in the ER, during which Ryan would periodically start crying, "I don't want stitches..."
2) The shot of Novocaine (SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEAM!)
3) The nurse who decided it would be a good idea to basically lay on top of Ryan even though he was already holding still. He was doing so well, until he felt trapped underneath this woman. (SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEAM!)
The best parts of the whole ordeal:
1) Quality time with Daddy. Yes, not the most ideal quality time setting, but, still, we had some good bonding time.
2) Friendly's for dinner, and Dairy Queen for Dessert.
3) The ER doctor who was the greatest thing in the world for Ryan. He explained everything to Ryan, and told him what was going to hurt (the shot), and what wasn't going to hurt (everything after the shot). He was totally honest with Ryan, talked him through the whole thing. Ryan trusted him completely, and was willing to do anything the Dr. asked. Thank you Dr. with the last name I can't remember. I do remember it had an "X" in it somewhere...
Today, Ryan is feeling much better, and enjoyed showing off his head in church. Lots of attention, which is right up his alley!
Let's just say an accidentally flying toy (not intended to fly) met Ryan's forehead. The cut wasn't all that big, but since it was on his forehead, and it wasn't staying closed, we decided that Daddy and Ryan should talke a ride to the local hospital to have it checked out.
The cut was small, but it was "Deep and Wide" (who remembers that Sunday School song?) so the Dr. gave me a choice - either Steri-strips or stitches. The drawback to the Steri-strips, said the Dr., are that they cannot get wet at all, and that Ryan would have to "take it easy" for 4 days. Well, let's see...
So, I opted for the stitches.
Ryan, needless to say, was not happy AT ALL with the prospect of needle & thread going through his forehead, but after 2 lollipops from the nurse and the promise of any dinner & dessert he wanted from Daddy, he agreed to let the Dr. sew him up.
The worse parts of the whole ordeal were:
1) Waiting for about an hour and a half in the ER, during which Ryan would periodically start crying, "I don't want stitches..."
2) The shot of Novocaine (SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEAM!)
3) The nurse who decided it would be a good idea to basically lay on top of Ryan even though he was already holding still. He was doing so well, until he felt trapped underneath this woman. (SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEAM!)
The best parts of the whole ordeal:
1) Quality time with Daddy. Yes, not the most ideal quality time setting, but, still, we had some good bonding time.
2) Friendly's for dinner, and Dairy Queen for Dessert.
3) The ER doctor who was the greatest thing in the world for Ryan. He explained everything to Ryan, and told him what was going to hurt (the shot), and what wasn't going to hurt (everything after the shot). He was totally honest with Ryan, talked him through the whole thing. Ryan trusted him completely, and was willing to do anything the Dr. asked. Thank you Dr. with the last name I can't remember. I do remember it had an "X" in it somewhere...
Today, Ryan is feeling much better, and enjoyed showing off his head in church. Lots of attention, which is right up his alley!
Friday, September 12, 2008
Reasons why I love my wife, Part I
My wife, Danielle, is the best. There are so many reasons why I love her, so every once in a while, I'm going to post one.
So, today, on my way home from school, I called home and asked my beautiful bride, "What's for dinner?" Her reply? "Venison Steaks".
Oh yeah, baby!
When I got home, I had to post this weekend's homework assignment for my students on my school webpage. As I was working, my kids were watching "Bambi". All of a sudden, I heard the love of my life say to the boys, "Well, guys, this movie is wrong because it shows the hunters shooting at anything that moves, and starting a forest fire. No real hunter would ever do something like that. That's something that I don't like about this movie".
What a woman! Not only does she like to eat venison, but she stands up for hunters!! Just one more reason why I love my wife!
So, today, on my way home from school, I called home and asked my beautiful bride, "What's for dinner?" Her reply? "Venison Steaks".
Oh yeah, baby!
When I got home, I had to post this weekend's homework assignment for my students on my school webpage. As I was working, my kids were watching "Bambi". All of a sudden, I heard the love of my life say to the boys, "Well, guys, this movie is wrong because it shows the hunters shooting at anything that moves, and starting a forest fire. No real hunter would ever do something like that. That's something that I don't like about this movie".
What a woman! Not only does she like to eat venison, but she stands up for hunters!! Just one more reason why I love my wife!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Witnessing a miracle
We have adopted 4 temporary pets.
Monarch Caterpillars!
We found them on some milkweed along our nightly walk route, so we brought 4 home, with some milkweed, and set them up in a very large glass jar. This morning, I got to witness one of the greatest miracles I've seen, the biggest caterpillar (We called him Bubba) forming his chrysalis before our eyes. It was such a cool thing that I had to blog about it. Of course, we don't have a video camera, so here are 2 short video clips from youtube, the first showing the egg hatching, growing, and getting ready to form the chrysalis, and the second one showing the chrysalis emerging from the caterpillar. It is an unbelievable thing to see. How anyone can watch this and still think that we all evolved from a blob and figured out how to do this stuff without the benefit of a Creator is beyond me. I mean, really. Do you honestly think that somehow, caterpillars decided it would be a really cool trick to change into something else, and then figured out, on their own, how to form this chrysalis (from the inside of their body) and change themselves into butterflies over the course of 7-10 days???
Video #1 - Egg to caterpillar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j-Nvjmiiqg&feature=related
Video #2 - Caterpillar to Chrysalis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPk1SRk0UOs&feature=related
Oh, and there was a second "miracle" today. I cleaned out the jar today, and filled it with fresh milkweed, with some water at the bottom of the jar for the milkweed. One of the caterpillars fell into the water, and as we (boys included!) watched, the thing struggled to get out of the water, but failed, and sank down into the water, still. After about a minute, I figured we should fish him out so that he didn't rot or anything in the jar. So, I fished him out, and was looking at him in my hand, kind of feeling bad for not saving him (honestly, we figured he would get out of the water himself since there was a milkweed stem right next to him. It didn't occur to me that he actually needed saving).
So here I am, looking at this pathetic, seemingly dead caterpillar that I let drown. I don't know what came over me, but I started rubbing my finger back and forth over the darn thing, and wouldn't you know it, after a minute, the caterpillar started moving slowly, and gradually started crawling around again looking for food. Just call me the Caterpillar Saver!
Monarch Caterpillars!
We found them on some milkweed along our nightly walk route, so we brought 4 home, with some milkweed, and set them up in a very large glass jar. This morning, I got to witness one of the greatest miracles I've seen, the biggest caterpillar (We called him Bubba) forming his chrysalis before our eyes. It was such a cool thing that I had to blog about it. Of course, we don't have a video camera, so here are 2 short video clips from youtube, the first showing the egg hatching, growing, and getting ready to form the chrysalis, and the second one showing the chrysalis emerging from the caterpillar. It is an unbelievable thing to see. How anyone can watch this and still think that we all evolved from a blob and figured out how to do this stuff without the benefit of a Creator is beyond me. I mean, really. Do you honestly think that somehow, caterpillars decided it would be a really cool trick to change into something else, and then figured out, on their own, how to form this chrysalis (from the inside of their body) and change themselves into butterflies over the course of 7-10 days???
Video #1 - Egg to caterpillar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j-Nvjmiiqg&feature=related
Video #2 - Caterpillar to Chrysalis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPk1SRk0UOs&feature=related
Oh, and there was a second "miracle" today. I cleaned out the jar today, and filled it with fresh milkweed, with some water at the bottom of the jar for the milkweed. One of the caterpillars fell into the water, and as we (boys included!) watched, the thing struggled to get out of the water, but failed, and sank down into the water, still. After about a minute, I figured we should fish him out so that he didn't rot or anything in the jar. So, I fished him out, and was looking at him in my hand, kind of feeling bad for not saving him (honestly, we figured he would get out of the water himself since there was a milkweed stem right next to him. It didn't occur to me that he actually needed saving).
So here I am, looking at this pathetic, seemingly dead caterpillar that I let drown. I don't know what came over me, but I started rubbing my finger back and forth over the darn thing, and wouldn't you know it, after a minute, the caterpillar started moving slowly, and gradually started crawling around again looking for food. Just call me the Caterpillar Saver!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Ticks
To bring you up to date...
My beautiful bride tested positive for Lyme's Disease a while back, went on antibiotics for a month, and now seems to be doing fine! Thank the Lord!
Ryan has been complaining of soreness for a while, so we took him to the Dr. for a Lyme's test. Yesterday, the Dr. called, and the test was negative! Thank the Lord! Read about his ordeal here.
Then, Friday night, we saw a tiny spot on Sean. Yep, a tick. A deer tick to be exact. They're the ones that carry all kinds of nastiness. Usually when we find a tick on the boys (which seems to be fairly often), we just pull it out. This one, however, was totally embedded in his chunky thigh, and I couldn't get it out. So, Saturday morning, my beautiful bride took him to the Dr., where they had to hold him down and dig it out. Read about that ordeal here.
That's the news here!
So, as a word of advice, check your kids for ticks. And, husbands & wives check each other for ticks. Often. even if you don't need it just to be sure. Here's a public service announcement about tick checking...
Click here to watch it.
My beautiful bride tested positive for Lyme's Disease a while back, went on antibiotics for a month, and now seems to be doing fine! Thank the Lord!
Ryan has been complaining of soreness for a while, so we took him to the Dr. for a Lyme's test. Yesterday, the Dr. called, and the test was negative! Thank the Lord! Read about his ordeal here.
Then, Friday night, we saw a tiny spot on Sean. Yep, a tick. A deer tick to be exact. They're the ones that carry all kinds of nastiness. Usually when we find a tick on the boys (which seems to be fairly often), we just pull it out. This one, however, was totally embedded in his chunky thigh, and I couldn't get it out. So, Saturday morning, my beautiful bride took him to the Dr., where they had to hold him down and dig it out. Read about that ordeal here.
That's the news here!
So, as a word of advice, check your kids for ticks. And, husbands & wives check each other for ticks. Often. even if you don't need it just to be sure. Here's a public service announcement about tick checking...
Click here to watch it.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Throat-Singing Thursday!
DO NOT LEAVE THIS PAGE WITHOUT WATCHING THESE VIDEOS!! There are some videos that will change your life. These will not. But, you just have to watch them anyway, or at least just watch 2 minutes of each. It's only 6 minutes total. What's 6 minutes among friends?
Ok, you might think I'm weird, but that's alright. i'm in the middle of preparing lessons for school, and I've been researching some different styles of "world" music.
This is Tuvan Throat Singing. Tuva is a small republic, part of the Russian Federation, just north of Mongolia. They have a type of singing called Throat Singing. It's kind of a vague term, but it's a singing style that uses the muscles of the voice to create overtones. Throat singers can sing multiple notes at the same time using the overtones produced in their voices, as well as the shape of their mouths to create other sounds.
1st - "Sygyt" - A throat singing style that creates kind of a whistling sound in the voice...
2nd - Kargyraa - A low "Growling" sound combined with vocal shaping to create some cool sounds.
3rd (This is the best one in my opinion...) A guy who uses Kargyraa along with some seriously high falsetto in the second verse of the song. Wow, what a range! I have absolutely NO IDEA what he's singing about, but it's really quite a moving song. The best part is at 4:37 into the song, he starts playing what can only be described as ancient Mongolian heavy metal.
Now, don't you feel better having watched those??
Ok, you might think I'm weird, but that's alright. i'm in the middle of preparing lessons for school, and I've been researching some different styles of "world" music.
This is Tuvan Throat Singing. Tuva is a small republic, part of the Russian Federation, just north of Mongolia. They have a type of singing called Throat Singing. It's kind of a vague term, but it's a singing style that uses the muscles of the voice to create overtones. Throat singers can sing multiple notes at the same time using the overtones produced in their voices, as well as the shape of their mouths to create other sounds.
1st - "Sygyt" - A throat singing style that creates kind of a whistling sound in the voice...
2nd - Kargyraa - A low "Growling" sound combined with vocal shaping to create some cool sounds.
3rd (This is the best one in my opinion...) A guy who uses Kargyraa along with some seriously high falsetto in the second verse of the song. Wow, what a range! I have absolutely NO IDEA what he's singing about, but it's really quite a moving song. The best part is at 4:37 into the song, he starts playing what can only be described as ancient Mongolian heavy metal.
Now, don't you feel better having watched those??
Monday, August 25, 2008
Bring on the Venison Wagon!!
I finally got my new arrows (Thank you, Mr. President for that economic stimulus!). I ended up getting Gold Tip 7595 Expedition Hunter carbons. How do they shoot, you might ask? I'll put it this way - Usually, when you shoot an arrow, you can see the trajectory of the arrow, and follow it to the target. When I shot the first Gold Tip, I pulled the trigger on the release, and the arrow was sticking out the back of the target before my mind had even registered that I had pulled the trigger. Whoa. That was fast.
So, I shot again, this time ready for the incredibly fast flight. I paid reeeeeeeally close attention this time. The trajectory was straight, flat, and fast. No arch, no wobble, just straight. Whoa again. I've spent some time over the past week making sight pin adjustments for the new arrows, and playing around with a Whisker Biscuit arrow rest that my neighbor gave me (Thanks Randy!). After much fiddling, adjusting, shooting, and whoa-ing, I am completely satisfied with the rest and the arrows. Today, I had my best target shooting ever. It was so good, I had to take pictures. This was my first group, shot from 20 yards...
Let's get a closer look, shall we?
Closer? OK!
I hardly ever shoot a group like this. That is a 2 inch blue circle. I could hear the arrows hitting each other with each shot. I'm not quite sure why some of the arrows went in at a different angle. Maybe because they were hitting each other? I don't know.
So, then, I shot from 30 yards (which is pretty much the farthest I'd shoot a deer from in the woods. Here's the 30 yard group...
Whoa.
This is not a normal shot group for me. I'm usually more spread out, but like I said, I had to take pictures it was so unusual.
I am counting down the days until September 13, when the bow season opens in Zone 2. I'm going to scout out a new property on Thursday morning. I am really hoping to fill the freezer with venison this year!
In honor of the impending arrival of hunting season, here's a great hunting story. This story is absolutely true. A fine example of how God provides for my family...
I was hunting in the woods on a friend's farm in October. It was a really slow day. No deer activity at all on a property that almost always has deer going through it. I had spent a good amount of time reading my pocket New Testament that i keep in my bag, and praying for my family. About a half hour before dusk, I was praying. I'll be honest, I was praying for meat. I firmly believe that God provides all our needs, as promised in the Bible, and I was earnestly praying that God would steer a venison wagon in my direction.
A couple minutes later, I saw some movement out in a field next to the piece of woods I was in. There was a heard of about 20 deer coming into the field, at least 150 yards away from where I was. The worked their way across this field, but stopped to forage along the edge of the woods (about 75 yards away) under an oak tree. I waited and waited for these deer to come my way, but it looked like they were content to stay out in the field.
Finally, with about 10 minutes of shooting light left, I prayed. My exact words were, "Lord, I know you are in control of all things. I know you can provide food for us. If a deer is going to come my way, it has to come right about now."
If I didn't see it myself, I wouldn't have believed it - the deer all started walking in my direction. I watched these deer that had taken their sweet time in the field, suddenly start walking through the woods in my direction as if they were following a command. I got my bow ready as they all came near. The third doe was a big one, and she stopped abruptly, 20 yards from my stand, perfectly broadside, as if she was a 3D target. I let the arrow fly & watched as it hit it's intended target. The doe jumped, walked 10 yards, and fell down dead. I couldn't believe it! And the other deer just sat there as if nothing had happened. It was amazing!
Like I said, if I didn't see it myself, I wouldn't believe it, but that's how it happened. Does God always answer our prayers the way we want Him to? Of course not. But, I have full faith that God answered my prayers that day (and many others!), and directly provided food for our family by moving those deer right in to where I was. I have a couple other good stories like this one, but I'll save them for another time.
I can't wait for hunting season to start! Hopefully, I'll have some good stories an pictures to share as the season goes on. Feel free to reply with any good hunting stories of your own, I'd love to hear them!
So, I shot again, this time ready for the incredibly fast flight. I paid reeeeeeeally close attention this time. The trajectory was straight, flat, and fast. No arch, no wobble, just straight. Whoa again. I've spent some time over the past week making sight pin adjustments for the new arrows, and playing around with a Whisker Biscuit arrow rest that my neighbor gave me (Thanks Randy!). After much fiddling, adjusting, shooting, and whoa-ing, I am completely satisfied with the rest and the arrows. Today, I had my best target shooting ever. It was so good, I had to take pictures. This was my first group, shot from 20 yards...
Let's get a closer look, shall we?
Closer? OK!
I hardly ever shoot a group like this. That is a 2 inch blue circle. I could hear the arrows hitting each other with each shot. I'm not quite sure why some of the arrows went in at a different angle. Maybe because they were hitting each other? I don't know.
So, then, I shot from 30 yards (which is pretty much the farthest I'd shoot a deer from in the woods. Here's the 30 yard group...
Whoa.
This is not a normal shot group for me. I'm usually more spread out, but like I said, I had to take pictures it was so unusual.
I am counting down the days until September 13, when the bow season opens in Zone 2. I'm going to scout out a new property on Thursday morning. I am really hoping to fill the freezer with venison this year!
In honor of the impending arrival of hunting season, here's a great hunting story. This story is absolutely true. A fine example of how God provides for my family...
I was hunting in the woods on a friend's farm in October. It was a really slow day. No deer activity at all on a property that almost always has deer going through it. I had spent a good amount of time reading my pocket New Testament that i keep in my bag, and praying for my family. About a half hour before dusk, I was praying. I'll be honest, I was praying for meat. I firmly believe that God provides all our needs, as promised in the Bible, and I was earnestly praying that God would steer a venison wagon in my direction.
A couple minutes later, I saw some movement out in a field next to the piece of woods I was in. There was a heard of about 20 deer coming into the field, at least 150 yards away from where I was. The worked their way across this field, but stopped to forage along the edge of the woods (about 75 yards away) under an oak tree. I waited and waited for these deer to come my way, but it looked like they were content to stay out in the field.
Finally, with about 10 minutes of shooting light left, I prayed. My exact words were, "Lord, I know you are in control of all things. I know you can provide food for us. If a deer is going to come my way, it has to come right about now."
If I didn't see it myself, I wouldn't have believed it - the deer all started walking in my direction. I watched these deer that had taken their sweet time in the field, suddenly start walking through the woods in my direction as if they were following a command. I got my bow ready as they all came near. The third doe was a big one, and she stopped abruptly, 20 yards from my stand, perfectly broadside, as if she was a 3D target. I let the arrow fly & watched as it hit it's intended target. The doe jumped, walked 10 yards, and fell down dead. I couldn't believe it! And the other deer just sat there as if nothing had happened. It was amazing!
Like I said, if I didn't see it myself, I wouldn't believe it, but that's how it happened. Does God always answer our prayers the way we want Him to? Of course not. But, I have full faith that God answered my prayers that day (and many others!), and directly provided food for our family by moving those deer right in to where I was. I have a couple other good stories like this one, but I'll save them for another time.
I can't wait for hunting season to start! Hopefully, I'll have some good stories an pictures to share as the season goes on. Feel free to reply with any good hunting stories of your own, I'd love to hear them!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Going to church in a boat
We're back from LBI! Check out my beautiful bride's blog here to get all the details of the trip.
Sunday morning, we were too tired from our trip to go to church, so we stayed home. We did, however, go to church on Sunday night to the best place for summertime church - The Culver Lake chapel! It's a little white church right on the lake that only meets during the summer months. The best part is their Sunday evening Float Service. That's float, as in, floating on a boat, in the middle of the lake. The church has a couple of pontoon boats that load up with people, a sound system, and an electric keyboard (with batteries), and go out into the middle of the lake and drop anchor. A bunch of boats come out, lash onto each other, and there you have it, a floating church service.
This is the church...
Here's their floating pulpit...
This is Pastor Beringer...
He's a great pastor. In a seasonal church like this, I can see how it would be easy for it to become "light" church, with just a nice message for people to enjoy, but Pastor Beringer preaches the Word of God, and doesn't water down anything. It's a great place to go in the summer!
By the end of the service, the sun is setting over the west shore. This is what it looks like.
It used to be that nobody else was allowed on the lake during the service, but now, boats have to be at least 500 feet away from the float, and any boats on the lake at that time can go no faster than trolling speed (that's slow!). Nobody really goes out during the service. It's very peaceful, and a great place to worship!
Afterwards, we got a fun high-speed trip around the lake, courtesy of our friends, Cindy & Gus, whose boat we were in. The boys loved it!
Here's a story about the church from the Religion section of our local paper. Click here
Sunday morning, we were too tired from our trip to go to church, so we stayed home. We did, however, go to church on Sunday night to the best place for summertime church - The Culver Lake chapel! It's a little white church right on the lake that only meets during the summer months. The best part is their Sunday evening Float Service. That's float, as in, floating on a boat, in the middle of the lake. The church has a couple of pontoon boats that load up with people, a sound system, and an electric keyboard (with batteries), and go out into the middle of the lake and drop anchor. A bunch of boats come out, lash onto each other, and there you have it, a floating church service.
This is the church...
Here's their floating pulpit...
This is Pastor Beringer...
He's a great pastor. In a seasonal church like this, I can see how it would be easy for it to become "light" church, with just a nice message for people to enjoy, but Pastor Beringer preaches the Word of God, and doesn't water down anything. It's a great place to go in the summer!
By the end of the service, the sun is setting over the west shore. This is what it looks like.
It used to be that nobody else was allowed on the lake during the service, but now, boats have to be at least 500 feet away from the float, and any boats on the lake at that time can go no faster than trolling speed (that's slow!). Nobody really goes out during the service. It's very peaceful, and a great place to worship!
Afterwards, we got a fun high-speed trip around the lake, courtesy of our friends, Cindy & Gus, whose boat we were in. The boys loved it!
Here's a story about the church from the Religion section of our local paper. Click here
Monday, August 11, 2008
Haircuts!
I gave the boys haircuts today. Nice short ones for our trip to the shore (more on that later).
I couldn't resist posting these pictures. Here's Sean before...
And here he is after. Who does he look like??
This haircut totally changed the way he looks! The after pictures are right after a bath, so his hair is combed down, but he went from looking like a toddler to a little boy in 5 minutes! Don't worry, it's the same length as his last haircut, so the curls will be back! (hopefully...)
In other news, we're leaving tomorrow morning to go down the shore for 4 days. Danielle's family has been renting the same house on LBI for years, so we're heading down there with Mom, Aunt Val, Mike, and whoever else decides to come! See you on Saturday!!
I couldn't resist posting these pictures. Here's Sean before...
And here he is after. Who does he look like??
This haircut totally changed the way he looks! The after pictures are right after a bath, so his hair is combed down, but he went from looking like a toddler to a little boy in 5 minutes! Don't worry, it's the same length as his last haircut, so the curls will be back! (hopefully...)
In other news, we're leaving tomorrow morning to go down the shore for 4 days. Danielle's family has been renting the same house on LBI for years, so we're heading down there with Mom, Aunt Val, Mike, and whoever else decides to come! See you on Saturday!!
Friday, August 8, 2008
Happy (late) Birthday Sean!!!
While we were away camping, Sean had a birthday! The big boy is 2!
On July 28, 2006 at 10:10 PM, our "little" Sean Jeffrey came into the world at 8 lbs, 5.5 oz.
This is what he looked like on that blessed day...
And here's the first picture of all 3 boys (can you believe Ryan was 3 and Kevin was 2??)
And here's the Birthday Boy now...
And here are all the boys staring into the pond on our farm vacation
If you look reeeeeally close at the picture of Sean's face, you'll see that his front tooth is chipped. That is pretty much Sean in a nutshell. Fearless, (sometimes) reckless, daring, tough, any any other adjective you can think of. His nicknames include "Seanzilla" and "Mighty Moose". He is definitely the biggest and toughest of the three at that age, but he is also very sensitive and charming when he wants to be (which is usually when he wants something...).
We also call him "mini-Jeff" because his is, well, mini-me. He has very large hands and very large feet, and he eats like a horse already. He is a big boy. He's almost as tall as Kevin, who's 2 1/2 years older than he is. I'm fearing the grocery bill in about 10 years when all 3 boys are going full guns on the food. They definitely have to learn to hunt.
Happy Birthday Big Guy!!
On July 28, 2006 at 10:10 PM, our "little" Sean Jeffrey came into the world at 8 lbs, 5.5 oz.
This is what he looked like on that blessed day...
And here's the first picture of all 3 boys (can you believe Ryan was 3 and Kevin was 2??)
And here's the Birthday Boy now...
And here are all the boys staring into the pond on our farm vacation
If you look reeeeeally close at the picture of Sean's face, you'll see that his front tooth is chipped. That is pretty much Sean in a nutshell. Fearless, (sometimes) reckless, daring, tough, any any other adjective you can think of. His nicknames include "Seanzilla" and "Mighty Moose". He is definitely the biggest and toughest of the three at that age, but he is also very sensitive and charming when he wants to be (which is usually when he wants something...).
We also call him "mini-Jeff" because his is, well, mini-me. He has very large hands and very large feet, and he eats like a horse already. He is a big boy. He's almost as tall as Kevin, who's 2 1/2 years older than he is. I'm fearing the grocery bill in about 10 years when all 3 boys are going full guns on the food. They definitely have to learn to hunt.
Happy Birthday Big Guy!!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Spiritually refreshed at Word of Life!
We had an absolutely awesome week!
I don't have enough good things to say about Word of Life. Just go there, and you'll see. We went with another family from church, and had a great time getting to know them even better than we already did. We met lots of other Christian families, including a family in the campsite next to us (Ken & Heather & their 3 boys & 1 girl. Hi guys!).
Our site was just through the trees from this...
If I could figure out how to use the "Stitch" feature on my camera, I could make that one nice panoramic picture...
There were a couple of nights that we had campfires right on the banks of the pond...
We were spiritually fed under the teaching of Dr. Hayes Wicker from Naples, FL, and Dr. Stanley Toussaint from Dallas Theological Seminary, while all 3 boys were in their classes all morning. They had a blast! The young people that teach the kids' classes are mostly from the Word of Life Bible Institute, and they do a fantastic job teaching the kids Biblical Truths!
The highlight of the week, by far, was when Ryan and Kevin decided they wanted to pray for Salvation, and ask Jesus to come into their hearts!!!!! Thank you God!!
One of the things that we were most convicted about was the need for us to have real, meaningful family & individual devotions EVERY DAY. Of course, WOL sells a family devotion curriculum that we really liked, but it cost a little (lot) more than we wanted to spend. Well, we committed to it, and felt strongly about it, so when I went into the book store to buy it, I found a shelf that had last year's devotion books HALF PRICE!!! The only difference between last year's and this year's is that there is a daily radio program that follows the current devotion book. We can do without the radio program... Thank you God!!
So, anyway, the whole week was such a blessing that while we were there, we booked the same week for next summer. We can't wait to go back!
Another highlight was on the ride home, we passed this motorcycle/car hybrid thing called a T-Rex. Click here for a cool slide show from the company that makes them. Only $49,999. What a bargain!
Here's the one we saw...
(For the record, WE were passing IT!!) Go Dodge Durango!! Pulling a camper too!
Much to the chagrin of my wife, I am now going to tell you something that is TOTALLY unrelated to the topic of this post...(she hates when I do that)
Our Honda mini-van was making a strange noise that I suspected was coming from the transmission. Sure enough, my mechanic looked at it and said that he thinks it needs a new transmission ($$$$$$). so, I took it to the Honda dealership, and, get this, Honda is GIVING us a brand new transmission FREE. Even though our warranty expired at 100,000 miles, and the van now has 113,000 miles on it. Free! As in, we don't have to pay for it. I didn't ask any questions, I just signed the paper. Thank you God!!!
Friday, July 25, 2008
Going camping!
I can't believe it's been a week since my last post. Well, it's going to be another week until my next. We leave tomorrow for Word of Life Family Camp. We're taking the pop-up with some good friends of ours for a week of Christian family fun!
Deck before...
See you next week!
Here are some finished projects for you to look at while I'm gone...
Kitchen wall before...
Kitchen wall after!
Deck before...
Deck during...
Deck after!
Current Work in progress...
This whole hill was overgrown with weeds, pricker bushes, Spirea (now next to the deck steps), Lilacs (now in a row along the road), and other goodies. I'm searching for a picture of what it looked like before but so far no luck. Today, there's mulch spread where you see the darker dirt in the picture, and grass seed planted and sprouting on the lighter colored grey area.
Friday, July 18, 2008
I love JibJab!
Here's a great little ditty courtesy of JibJab. They have some very funny stuff that pokes fun at both sides of the political aisle. Their election year songs are the best! Enjoy!
Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Guy movie night
Danielle's at church for worship team practice, the boys were asleep by 7, so Daddy had a movie night!
I perused my collection of fine cinematic features, and chose the classic, Independence Day, with Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman et al.
Ah, the joys of predictable plot, weak dialog, and Will Smith wisecracks! You can't beat it with a stick.
Here's my favorite scene. Will Smith vs. Alien in a dogfight. Best line ever: "Welcome to Earth"
1st video is part 1, 2nd one is part 2. My sincere apologies for the "a" word in 2nd clip!!
I perused my collection of fine cinematic features, and chose the classic, Independence Day, with Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman et al.
Ah, the joys of predictable plot, weak dialog, and Will Smith wisecracks! You can't beat it with a stick.
Here's my favorite scene. Will Smith vs. Alien in a dogfight. Best line ever: "Welcome to Earth"
1st video is part 1, 2nd one is part 2. My sincere apologies for the "a" word in 2nd clip!!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Say it ain't so, Donut man!!!
We've stumbled upon some old Donut Man videos in our church library that the kids just love! The Donut Man (Rob Evans) made up all these songs about Jesus, God, salvation, etc, (ex. "Life without Jesus is like a donut 'cause there's a hole in the middle of your heart!", and then there's "Goliath", or as Sean says, "Ba-wy-vif"). His songs are great teaching tools that we hear all the time!
I recently found out that Rob converted to Catholicism. So, my awesome wife did a little research and found an interview with Rob on why he converted. There are some things that I agreed with him on. For example, the seriousness and the solemnity with which they handled the mass. There was no "fluff". The whole mass was leading up to the sacrament of Communion, so there was a very serious tone to the whole thing. In my younger days, I spent a little over a year singing in a catholic church choir. It was a period of time during which I was not really interested in a personal relationship with God. Honestly, the only reason I was even at a church was because I was getting paid to be there. Even in the spiritual state I was in, I was impressed by the awe and wonder that seemed to be present. Every mass, they would proclaim, "The Great Mystery of Faith; Christ has died, Christ is Risen, Christ will come again!"
But then, he started talking about stuff that made me cringe. Example -He's chuckling at his old beliefs that praying to saints/Mary is wrong. Here's his convoluted logic as to why it's ok to pray to saints. Praying to saints is like asking our earthly friends to pray for us. Quoth the Donut Man, "Think of the saints as Jesus' supporting cast. (?!?!?) It would be like Julie Andrews trying to sing every role in 'Sound of Music', there's no way she could do it alone." Sorry, what?!?! So, let me see if I understand...Jesus can't do it on his own, so we should pray to the saints & Mary to lighten Jesus' load so He doesn't have to handle it on his own? What about I Timothy 2:5 - "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ" I don't think there's anywhere in the Bible that says to pray to Paul during peak prayer hours.
There was more, but that's all I'm going to write about. I was so disappointed. There were a few times that we were watching, and we would say, "But, the Bible says __________ about so and so..." We'll keep watching the videos because the old ones are so spiritually sound. We won't be buying any new ones.
I recently found out that Rob converted to Catholicism. So, my awesome wife did a little research and found an interview with Rob on why he converted. There are some things that I agreed with him on. For example, the seriousness and the solemnity with which they handled the mass. There was no "fluff". The whole mass was leading up to the sacrament of Communion, so there was a very serious tone to the whole thing. In my younger days, I spent a little over a year singing in a catholic church choir. It was a period of time during which I was not really interested in a personal relationship with God. Honestly, the only reason I was even at a church was because I was getting paid to be there. Even in the spiritual state I was in, I was impressed by the awe and wonder that seemed to be present. Every mass, they would proclaim, "The Great Mystery of Faith; Christ has died, Christ is Risen, Christ will come again!"
But then, he started talking about stuff that made me cringe. Example -He's chuckling at his old beliefs that praying to saints/Mary is wrong. Here's his convoluted logic as to why it's ok to pray to saints. Praying to saints is like asking our earthly friends to pray for us. Quoth the Donut Man, "Think of the saints as Jesus' supporting cast. (?!?!?) It would be like Julie Andrews trying to sing every role in 'Sound of Music', there's no way she could do it alone." Sorry, what?!?! So, let me see if I understand...Jesus can't do it on his own, so we should pray to the saints & Mary to lighten Jesus' load so He doesn't have to handle it on his own? What about I Timothy 2:5 - "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ" I don't think there's anywhere in the Bible that says to pray to Paul during peak prayer hours.
There was more, but that's all I'm going to write about. I was so disappointed. There were a few times that we were watching, and we would say, "But, the Bible says __________ about so and so..." We'll keep watching the videos because the old ones are so spiritually sound. We won't be buying any new ones.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Mulch, Glorious Mulch!
I've gotten a TON of work done around the house this week. i'll give it to you in dribs and drabs, but I have to tell you about the mulch...
One of my projects was to deal with this hill in our yard that runs alongside the road . It's about 80 feet long, and about 4 feet high. It's too steep to mow with the mower, and to weed wack it takes way too long. I decided to spray it with Round Up to kill all the grass. Side Note - Round Up Weed & Grass Killer works GREAT!! Then, I figured I would put down some of that weed block sheet stuff, mulch it, and plant some low-lying, low maintenance stuff.
I was not looking forward to buying mulch. It's way too expensive to have it delivered, and I don't have a pick-up or a trailer, so I would have had to borrow one, which was causing a whole other hassle, but anyway...
So, while I'm delaying and delaying, a friend at church last week told me that sometimes if you call your local road department, if they're going to be doing any branch chipping, they'll give you some mulch. Yesterday, I was driving home from Home Depot (deck stairs project, more on that tomorrow) I passed a crew removing branches from around power line. So, I stopped.
Says I, "Hey, what do you guys do with all the mulch after you're done chipping?"
Says the sign-holding guy, "Well, we try to find a place to dump it."
Says I, "Hey! I know a place you can dump it!"
Says the sign-holding guy, "Where?"
Says I, "My house." I write down my address and give it to him.
Says s-h guy, "OK boss, we'll see you in a bit".
This happened at like 10 in the morning, and by 2, they still hadn't come. I was starting to doubt the authority of the sign-holding guy. I was starting to feel like someone who was stood-up on a date...
2:30 rolls around, and here comes the truck! They backed it up the driveway, opened the gate, and dumped the entire contents of the truck in my yard!!! SWEET!!!
and the best part is, IT WAS FREE!!!!!
Ok, so by free, I mean I slipped the 2 guys a few bucks each, and sat down with them and gave them a cold drink, but still..FREE MULCH AND A LOT OF IT!! Here are pictures.
Here comes the truck...
And here's my mulch pile...
That last picture makes it look like the pile is bigger than our truck, but that's just the camera angle. I figured the pile was about 10 feet long x about 5-6 feet wide x about 4 feet high. And free. I spent half the day today spreading it. I estimate I spread about 3-4 yards of it, and the pile is about half gone, so we got somewhere about 7 yards of the stinky stuff. Figure it would have been about $20 per yard, plus $75 delivery, and we got it for a nice tip and 2 cold drinks. And one drink was water, so we didn't even have to pay for that!! :)
Phil. 4:19 - And my God will meet all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus...
Thank You, Lord, for free mulch!!!
Oh yeah, and I slew a big snake today...
That's a size 13 boot next to it.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Projects, projects, projects
Today was a busy day. Danielle & the boys were at VBS all morning and into the afternoon, so it's a perfect time for me to do work.
Since there were scattered T-storms in the forecast for the afternoon, I started by mowing the lawn. It was a totally different experience mowing the lawn without the boys to "help" me. Usually, I have to stop every few minutes to answer a question, mediate a disagreement, etc, but today I was actually able to mow the lawn from start to finish without interruption. It was really boring! I missed the boys so much. I missed seeing them pushing around their little bubble mowers. However, I did enjoy getting to just listen to my iPod and nothing else. Since our church hasn't started putting Pastor Rick's sermons online yet, I've started downloading sermons by Tony out in Kansas. He's a great minister who does some great expounding on God's Word. The sermon I listened to today was on James 1:12-16. It was about resisting the temptation to sin. Part of that passage exposes the awful truth about sin...
James 1:14-16 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.
Notice, we are tempted by our own desires. It is our responsibility to be diligent and to avoid situations/people/things that cause us to sin. And, more importantly, it is only through God's grace that we can be free from the sin. We cannot do it on our own. If we think we can do it alone, we're crazy. Bottom line - The awful truth is that Sin does NOT bring happiness/pleasure/contentment. It brings Death. But, as Tony pointed out, Praise God that...
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
Mowing the lawn was by far the most productive part of the day!
After the lawn, it was on to the garage. A good friend of mine from church hooked me up with some free cabinets from a guy at work that was remodeling his kitchen. They were exactly what I was looking for to put in the garage. So I hung 3 of them in the garage today. Since I'm going to eventually finish the garage really nice, I put in some insulation behind them so that when I finally get around to re-doing the garage, I won't have to take them down again to insulate. Pretty smart, eh??
The problem is, the studs in the garage aren't exactly what you'd call plumb. They aren't really that bad out of line, but when I hung the cabinets all nice and plumb, it really accentuated the crooked studs. So, I ended up putting up some plywood around the cabinets to cover the studs. Problem solved...
Then, I cleaned up my lumber corner in the garage. I threw out any scrap pieces that have gotten thrown in the corner over the past 2 years of projects, and I even sorted the good wood into stacks. Pressure Treated on the left, regular pine on the right. Sorted by size, too. Now, I'm ready to tackle the next wood project - Steps on the side of the front deck. I'll explain that in a different post!
All this before noon! I couldn't believe how much work I got done. We'll see what tomorrow brings!
Since there were scattered T-storms in the forecast for the afternoon, I started by mowing the lawn. It was a totally different experience mowing the lawn without the boys to "help" me. Usually, I have to stop every few minutes to answer a question, mediate a disagreement, etc, but today I was actually able to mow the lawn from start to finish without interruption. It was really boring! I missed the boys so much. I missed seeing them pushing around their little bubble mowers. However, I did enjoy getting to just listen to my iPod and nothing else. Since our church hasn't started putting Pastor Rick's sermons online yet, I've started downloading sermons by Tony out in Kansas. He's a great minister who does some great expounding on God's Word. The sermon I listened to today was on James 1:12-16. It was about resisting the temptation to sin. Part of that passage exposes the awful truth about sin...
James 1:14-16 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.
Notice, we are tempted by our own desires. It is our responsibility to be diligent and to avoid situations/people/things that cause us to sin. And, more importantly, it is only through God's grace that we can be free from the sin. We cannot do it on our own. If we think we can do it alone, we're crazy. Bottom line - The awful truth is that Sin does NOT bring happiness/pleasure/contentment. It brings Death. But, as Tony pointed out, Praise God that...
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
Mowing the lawn was by far the most productive part of the day!
After the lawn, it was on to the garage. A good friend of mine from church hooked me up with some free cabinets from a guy at work that was remodeling his kitchen. They were exactly what I was looking for to put in the garage. So I hung 3 of them in the garage today. Since I'm going to eventually finish the garage really nice, I put in some insulation behind them so that when I finally get around to re-doing the garage, I won't have to take them down again to insulate. Pretty smart, eh??
The problem is, the studs in the garage aren't exactly what you'd call plumb. They aren't really that bad out of line, but when I hung the cabinets all nice and plumb, it really accentuated the crooked studs. So, I ended up putting up some plywood around the cabinets to cover the studs. Problem solved...
Then, I cleaned up my lumber corner in the garage. I threw out any scrap pieces that have gotten thrown in the corner over the past 2 years of projects, and I even sorted the good wood into stacks. Pressure Treated on the left, regular pine on the right. Sorted by size, too. Now, I'm ready to tackle the next wood project - Steps on the side of the front deck. I'll explain that in a different post!
All this before noon! I couldn't believe how much work I got done. We'll see what tomorrow brings!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Family Farm Fun Fest & First Fish Fishing!!
Well, we had a GREAT time on our family vacation! I wouldn't necessarily call it a reunion, but it was the first time that my whole immediate family (Mom & Dad, the 5 of us, and my brother & his wife & daughter) went away together in a long time. The last time we did this was maybe 15 years ago, and there weren't any wives or kids yet. OK, so I guess it was a reunion of sorts...
Thanks for the support baby! I couldn't have done it without you!!
Here's the farm...
If you want more pictures of the farm go to my wife's blog.
Most importantly, the boys got to go fishing. And caught their first fish. Actually, they both caught their first 6 fish. 6 monster sunnies each. Boy, those sunnies put up a fight...
Here's Ryan's FIRST FISH EVER!!!
And here's Kevin's FIRST FISH EVER!!!
My Dad was reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally far away when he took the pictures. Those sunnies are actually about 10 pounds each, and about a foot long...
Sean didn't go fishing. He just sat on the dock saying, "EEESH!!".
Oh, yeah, and, I got the obligatory hook in the finger while I was untangling one of the boys' lines. He thought I had let go, so he cast his line out. I hadn't let go yet. ouch. I have to say, I managed to not use any regrettable words in front of the boys (or my mom) when it happened! All I could muster up was "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!".
Oh, and at one point, the fishing line got hooked on the anchor rope of the diving dock, so I got in the canoe to unhook it. All the while, my beloved bride was sitting on the dock, convinced that I was going to fall in. She even took a picture of me...
Thanks for the support baby! I couldn't have done it without you!!
We also had a great time with my parents and my brother, sister-in-law and neice. She is adorable!! The boys absolutely loved her!
The boys also enjoyed spending time with Pop Pop and Grandma. Here they are pondering the deepest thoughts life has to offer...
I think in this picture, they were pondering whether we could finally go inside the Villa Como to eat some pizza!
And here are the boys pondering about the snails in the pond...
The highlight for me was going out to dinner with my beautiful bride and my brother and his bride. We had a great adult dinner at a restaurant on a lake, and enjoyed being family. Then our wives made fun of us because we HAD to go to an ice cream place that we went to when we were kids. They even had the same posters that were up in 1985. no kidding. One was a picture of Jane Fonda in an exercise outfit that boasted, "We have low-fat frozen yogurt!".
So, a good time was had by all! It was a real blessing to get away as a family again. Hopefully we can do it again soon!
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