Funny picture and my mom's condition

Normally I just launch into odd subjects with no warning but I thought I would alert you this time. I was browsing through the pictures from nationals and ran across this picture from the same memory card. Here is a picture of Belle, Lucy and puppies. Guess which is the mother of the puppies. (Belle is on the left and Lucy on the right).

Today was busy as always, but it didn't start getting busy until after 10:00 so that was nice. I guess I should also mention that I stopped around 5:00, so today was an easy day. My dad and I are completely loaded up for Twin Lakes and we'll be off by 8 or 9 tomorrow morning. Since the days have been warm lately, we're going to work in the morning, go to the motel for the afternoon, and back to work in the evening. I probably won't have any internet access in the motel, so yall have to suffer from lack of my wonderful blog while I'm away. Don't worry too much, the disease of lack-a-blog only lasts for a week.

I’m feeling a little happy this evening and I can’t quite pin down why. I just finished watching “Maverick”. It’s a bit coarse and has some language, but I really enjoy the plot turns and surprises, and I think the ending put me in a good mood. It must be something else though, because I usually don’t get in an extended good mood unless something else is putting me in a good mood. Maybe I already know what it is? I should ask my mom, she could probably tell me what’s putting me in a good mood.

I haven’t mentioned how my mom has been doing for a while so I think I should inform the world to her condition: “Better than before.” That pretty much summarizes her condition. The scar on her head has healed nicely with only a small, long scar. Some of her head is still numb, and she has cut her hair. Katie says she looks “cute”.

As for her leg, it is getting better every day. My mom spent the entire day today in a wheelchair. Normally her leg gets swollen and she gets tired so she lays in bed in the afternoons, but the time spent in the wheelchair gets longer and longer. The knee is far less sore, and the hole in her knee is healing quite well. Other than the T-shape scar of the stitches, that looks almost normal. Except for the swelling, her leg looks normal now. She still has pain when bending, straightening, or holding the leg still. She's so thankful that God protected her in the crash and that he healed her forehead. There was no way that she could have only come away with a cut going half way around a curved head and not affect anything below. If the Lord can do that, then what is yet to come with the knee?

A little sadness

We had a litter of puppies last night, and this afternoon and evening, we noticed that one of the puppies was a runt. When we tried to feed it this evening it couldn't handle the food and had trouble breathing. We managed to get a little food in since then, and we'll see how it does.

Cares and worrys

Actually, I'm not going to talk about cares and worries specifically. I just wanted to talk about the sermon I heard Sunday about cares and worries. This post has had a little trouble getting posted. I almost had it done, along with an overdue E-mail :-), when the power on my computer ran out. Since it was 12:20 at night, I decided to retype it later. Let's see what happens this time.

Here are some of the highlights from the sermon with the main theme being: What does worry do? It takes our attention from God.

Philippians 4:6-7 "In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. " In 2 quick verses, God gives us several anti-cultural lifestyles: to not worry about anything, tell Him about all our problems, and rest in God's peace through Jesus Christ always.

Matthew 6:25... If God cares so much for things that are transient (even for us), then he cares so much more for his sons and daughters.

Matt 11:28 "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." This is my favorite verse of the three. Because I don't follow and have faith in the first two verses, I praise God that he will continue to wait for us, and when we turn to Him (no time limit involved) He will give rest.

I've finished the book "Salamandastron". It's a sad book, but at least I think I'm finished with Redwall books for a while. I've read a little bit of "Jesus CEO" but I might start "In His Steps" first. I also have “Swiss Family Robinson” and “Vanity Fair” to read. Oh. I have so much work to do!

Iron is needed by the body to work properly

I don't think staying busy from 8:00 this morning to 11:00 tonight would have been so bad had I not stayed up until 2:30 last night reading "Taggarung" (or something like that spelling). I almost didn't blog tonight because I was ready for bed. But don't worry, my iron will and decisiveness made me get up and post for all you lovely fans out there.

Other than to toot my own horn about how much I work today ( I happen to know that my mom will laugh at what I consider 'work'. ), I did want to mention part of a conversation I overheard yesterday as I was shopping at Lowes. Two people were talking to a cashier and they were apparently from the same church. The older couple was telling the cashier how some person should be asked to leave the church because he was starting to move away from the Reformed position. When I heard that statement I had several reactions right off the top of my head. i.e. They came to me over the last two days.

(1) The Bible only uses expulsion from fellowship with believers as a last recourse for a believer who steadfastly refuses to repent, or simply said, is in a state of rebellion against the Church. Theological differences do not count as a rebellion against God.

(2) I could see asking the person to not be a member of a church if the church statement of belief for members requires a particular theological position, but that is far different than asking the person to part with the whole church body.

(3) A verse my mom really likes is Pro 27:17, "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. " When there is an honest disagreement between friends, especially the close friends within a church body, there is a growth of understanding. Proverbs 27 doesn't say that the opinions of either person will change or the disagreement will be solved, only that the understanding of both people will be improved, and it states that as a good.

(4) This is what we do in everyday life. We like to hang around people like us, who think the same way, and people who act the same way. The Bible does say not to be too buddy-buddy with non-Christians, but when we deal with other Christians, we should be willing to listen to other points of view with an open mind - and Proverbs says that we will be sharpened.

I felt like making a post... here it is!

I think I'm well into my relaxation mode now. There is a craft show about 2 weeks away that I'll have to spend long hours for, but right now, I wake up when I want (As long as it's before 8), work all day and run errands for my mom and dad, then finish about 8:30, finish my bath about 9:30 then I have the whole evening to myself! I'm already tired and it isn't much after 11:00. I've started reading the Redwall series again. The local library had a new book which I hadn't read before, so I checked it out and am slowly working through it. I'm also learning how to play a lot of simple 2 player games so I won't be reduced to War because I can't think of any other good games. Is it only me, or does this post seem a bit random?

Keeping un-lazy

I'm home, working, and got 2 computers I can play with. Hopefully I can get one of them to work if I mix and match enough. It would be nice to know what I'm doing. It would increase my chances of success quite a bit.

Thank you.

As the title says, thank you everyone for reading my blog. If you actually have read my blogs these last few days then you are probably crazy! These blogs were far too long. Sorry!

My last blog in this series. It's almost done! That's good because tomorrow I leave for the weekend again. :-D Oh no! I just got back and discovered it saved this post as a draft instead of publishing it! I thought it was out there for the world to see.

I thought it was a very good round. Katie and Charlie did a good job and managed to hold their own pretty well. One thing that I noticed about the round is that Katie and Charlie showed their lack of experience against fast talkers. Fast talkers are more popular in college and a person quickly learns to lump and clump arguements, but NCFCA hasn't had too many fast, coherent talkers. Katie and Charlie are good at lump and clump, but the shear number of arguements overwhelmed them. One thing about the Baker-Baker team that Katie had noticed and I enjoyed watching in future rounds was their command of information of the current topic. Katie said that they were the best informed team she had seen at nationals and from some of the subtleties I saw in the final round, I would have to agree. In finals, the affirmative had some excellent arguements but I'm still not sure who I would have voted for. If the Affirmative had brought up the complete lack of brinks in the DAs, I would have gone Aff, but that was never pointed out.

I'm home now! I think I mentioned that at the beginning of this series of blogs. My grandma flew down Sunday morning and I picked her up at the airport and she's moved into my room while she acclimates to the schedule of the household. She's not doing too much except to make sure things stay clean and dishes washed and clothes keep getting cycled through the washing machine and put away... OK, she's helping out quite a bit, but her big value comes in just being here for my mom. With all of us kids doing our daily activites, Mom doesn't have anyone to talk to during the long day; so grandma talks and they have visited extensively since her arrival here. I'm sure they still have quite a bit of catching up to do. The catching up that people do when they know they are going to spend a long time together is so much different than catching up with someone during a phone call. All sorts of details, small incidents, old incidents, and the humdrum of daily life is shared during the extended visits and that is so much more refreshing than phone calls, E-mails, or even blogs.

Yes, it's true. Blog's will not replace speech. :-)

Still blessed.

Nationals... That is a large blog in itself, but I'll write it up now. Hopefully it won't be too long. Monday got started off to a nice start if somewhat confusing. We couldn't check into our dorm rooms until four but Aunt Pauline was leaving at 9:30. Katie found that the Roths would be at the tournament in the afternoon so Aunt Pauline stayed until then and headed back to home. I judged once that day and listened to some great comments by a student panel on, "Was competing in NCFCA worth it to them?" All of the people said yes and I love the reasons: The changes one could make and the better witness to God's grace one could be in the world and the classroom. Is that not worth a lot? I think so. The student panel was an eye opener in other ways, because some of the students seemed only interested in the benefits that occurred through getting a better job. I realize they were concentrating on different aspects of the benefits so it wasn't their goal to be exclusive but it did make me start thinking that there are a lot of people who see debate as a way to improve their communication skills so they can get the coveted job in the White House.

Moving on to the rest of nationals now. Monday was a relatively short day. After getting a room and judging one round, I attended the introductory meeting that night and went to bed soon after that. Tuesday and Wednesday are almost identical. The days were arranged so that I spent most of the time judging. Both days combined (which started before 6 and usually ended about 12) ended up having 10 rounds of judging. Estimating about 2 and 1/4 hours each round, that was 22 hours of judging. On a day by day basis, I was putting in 11 hour days, just in judging. That doesn't include the rounds I skipped and walked with friends. It is SO nice to have people with which I can talk and relax with when I'm feeling lonely. NCFCA has a lot of old friends, but most of them are busy doing other things and don't go to Nationals. At the end of Wednesday, Katie and Charlie broke into double-octafinals but lost against Baker-Baker. My next blog will have more on that, but it's getting too long as it is.

I'm putting a lot of the last week’s events into this blog, but I thought I would skip forward and present the day-to-day life of... Friday when we got home from the airport. I loved California weather. It was hot, low humidity, sunny, and all around nice (except for the brief cooler spell). I got off in Pennsylvania just to find it swelteringly hot. I hadn't felt that warm since last summer here. No offense to Californians, but plain heat doesn't quite match with heat and humidity. After all, you can sweat more in California and cool down faster; that's how the body is designed to work. In Pennsylvania, if it is warm and you try sweating, all you get is a wet shirt and no cooler. The high humidity almost destroys the body's ability to cool down. Fortunately, the humidity was only above the 80% range. Still bearable. The real suffering comes during the summer's 100% humidity days. You can be all dry with dry clothes, you can sit in the shade with a fan blowing over you, but you will still be soaking wet and extremely hot in 10 minutes. Most folks don't realize how much they sweat until it doesn't evaporate.

Cool. I just finished my next post after this one. I'm a whole day ahead! I don't know about you, but these long blogs seem boring to me. I won't feel insulted if you don't read these. :-)

Still amazed.

If you read straight on from the last blog, this will probably make more sense. I had just finished talking about the people on the canoe trip and am moving onto the scenery.

The scenery was extremely beautiful. The whole French river area was an area that had been carved out by retreating glaciers. The rivers were big channels that retreating glaciers had carved. At one of the stops along the way, we were camping along the bay, and the shoreline for miles looked like someone with HUGE hand and had taken their fingers to the shoreline and just made pulled out channels of rocks. Each channel extended for a few hundred feet inland before the trees started covering them. Shannon, Jon, and I went and walked for a few clicks and all we did was go up, down, and circle around the channels that were low enough for rocks. My professor didn't get any pictures of that, but he did take about 400 pictures of other scenery. Some of the pictures are really neat. He is an amateur photographer that I think is really good and he got a lot of neat pictures with his high powered camera.

We got back to the college Friday and then had final presentations as soon as everyone got settled back in the classroom. Having the "final" Friday night meant people didn't have to return Saturday morning and could get a head start on the rest of the summer. At least the other students in my class got off to a fast start. I got off to a slower start because I ended up driving to GCC Saturday to drive Marianna to the airport. Of course there were a few stops along the way for storage, but we managed to fit everything in the car and get Marianna to the airport in time. I helped Marianna with the bags into the airport, and after a few dizzying trips on the elevator (we had trouble finding the right floor) Marianna was checked in and on her way home!

Sunday... I was lazy. No other way to put it. I didn't help Dad too much and I didn't spiffy up my room any. I didn't even play computer games... thinking back, I have no idea what I did. Monday was a bit more interesting. Since Mom was coming home, I made a nominal attempt at cleaning up my bedroom and tried to pick up around the house, but Margaret is a fantastic housekeeper when she is in charge. Everything was all right in the morning, so about 4:00 we went over to my Aunt and Uncle's house to have a Memorial Day get together. As we were leaving, Katie called my Aunt and we heard about the car accident. I won't speak on that since you already know the details. Needless to say, I and my whole family was swamped until Thursday when Katie and I left for Arizona to see my Grandma! That is also in an earlier blog so I won't say much more except the events that happened late in the week. I got to visit Cousin Shar and hang out in an old section of town. Katie got a lot of really neat items as graduation presents. I had no idea what I wanted so I went without. I also have to say that Aunt Pauline was great and drove us to San Diego for Nationals and waited around until all our baggage was handled. She took at least 7 hours out of a VERY busy day to make sure we were settled. Thanks Aunt Pauline!

I've been thinking today (not a lot of thinking, just a bit) about what I should start doing to prepare for the end of helping my family this summer. I'm going to take a general stab about what I will end up doing, so I thought I would try to write a nice computer program to show my future employer (I've done a lot of work on one over the spring semester) and just keep up my reading over the summer and try to keep it up when work starts. This summer I'm also planning to participate a lot in the NCFCA groups popping up around here and also work on the NFA topic.

There are still a lot of unaswered questions about what's going to happen... so what! I'll continue to mull over what is coming up, but each day has it's own troubles.

Still smiling.

This is THE blog, not necessarily for content, but for size. I'll have a lot of information but since there is so much, I'm splitting it up into 3 to 6 parts. I haven't decided. I was going to make one big blog but I decided I would never read it again if I did that. This is the first issue to come forth from my keyboard of this series that is available for consumption by the denizens of the internet. (you)

I have the first break in two weeks. I've had small breaks last week and days that have been very relaxing, but there is something about being at home that gives rest to the traveler. I'm actually not done working and will be very busy for the next week, but the salve has been applied and only time is required. I would have had a very disappointing week at nationals, but there were wells where I could rest along the way. But enough of how nice home is and how glad I am to see my mom and dad. What makes a restful place isn't the activity going on but the people I get to spend time with.

I'll attack this post from the oldest news to the latest. The first episode I shall reveal will contain the details of the Canoeing trip to the French River. This trip was just what the doctor ordered because after the last week of finals and then starting right into the two week class, I really needed a break, and the canoe trip offered the needed break. According to my professors, this trip was the easiest and laziest trip they had EVER taken. There were two professors and four students other than myself that went on the trip: Luke, Jon, Shannon and Rachel. They were a great group of people to go along with. They were all Christians and not hesitant to share their faith or what they thought. I will need to be a LITTLE circumspect because some of them may be reading this, but I'll still be pretty blunt. To start off with the bluntest statements of all. Of all the students on the canoe trip, I probably enjoyed the company of Rachel the most because most of the time she spent talking about her boyfriend. You would think that would get boring after 5 or 6 straight hours, but no! It stayed as interesting as ever. That was what I enjoyed, but what I missed the most was listening to Shannon. Apparently she was talkative in the evening while in her tent with Rachel but it was nothing I could ever hear. From the small crumbs that both Shannon and Rachel dropped about those conversations they sounded very thoughtful and something that I could have learned a lot from. Jon and Luke were both pretty quiet. None of us were talkers, but both of them did a lot of neat stuff. Luke was a lifeguard and had a lot of stories and plans about what to do over the coming year. He had also done a lot of hiking in the past. Jon was on the swim team at college and was doing a lot of missionary work.

This trip was a hard blow for the end of college. It made me realize that there was a whole group of people that I hadn't met that I wish I would have taken the opportunity to seek out. I already knew that the people I had met in college were far more interesting than my 4 years would allow. I think Shannon would have been especially neat to get to know because during the trip she was the mystery but seemed to have a very interesting life. Oh well. I'm sure I'll continue to meet great people, but I'll be trying to at least stay in touch with some of the people on the trip. One day I'll have the chance to meet all of these people and get to know them well!

For everyone

Nobility by Alice Cary

True worth is in being, not seeming----
In doing, each day that goes by,
Some little thing—not in dreaming
Of great things to do by and by.

For whatever men say in their blindness,
And spite of the fancies of youth,
There’s nothing so kingly as kindness,
And nothing so royal as truth.

We get back our mete as we measure----
We cannot do wrong and feel right,
Nor can we give pain and gain pleasure,
For justice avenges each slight.

The air for the wing of the sparrow,
The bush for the robin and wren,
But always the path that is narrow
And straight, for the children of men.

“Tis not in the pages of story
The heart of its ills to beguile,
Though he who makes courtship to glory
Gives all that he has for her smile.

For when from her heights he has won her,
Alas! It is only to prove
That nothing‘s so sacred as honor,
And nothing so loyal as love!

We cnnnot make bargains for blisses,
Nor catch them like fishes In nets;
And sometimes the thing our life misses
Helps more than the thing which it gets,

For good lieth not in pursuing,
Nor gaining of great nor of small,
But just in the doing, and doing
As we would be done by, is all.

Through envy, through malice, through hating,
Against the world, early and late,
No jot of our courage abating----
Our part is to work and to wait.

And slight is the sting of his trouble
Whose winnings are less than his worth;
For he who is honest is noble,
Whatever his fortunes or birth.

My attempt at a short post

I'm home from California and finished with judging at NCFCA nationals. If my numbers are correct, I spent about 22 hours judging on Tuesday and Wedensday. I'm glad everyone made it home safely. My grandma will be coming out to help my mom while she is in bed. That's it folks. A short blog!

Enjoying the California sun

As the title of this post may indicate, we're in the wonderful state of California! We left Thursday morning about 7:15 for the airport. We went through Houston then onto Pheonix and spent some time with Uncle JD and his sons. The time we spent there was far too short though, we didn't have much time to talk to Andy and TJ had to leave about an hour after we got there. We then went to Grandma's house and stayed the night. I got to sleep about 11 and woke up at 2:50 to start the drive to Ontario. I was expecting myself to be a little bit more sleepy than I was, but it wasn't too bad. The benefit of leaving so early was that we got to my Aunts house by 12:00 and just in time for lunch. Right now, I'm hanging out at her house and trying to help where I can. I'm being a bit lazy right now by blogging, but in about 10 minutes I need to go get breakfast for everyone, so I think it is a fair trade-off. :-)

I still don't know if we are registered and have rooms for Nationals or not. I'm pretty sure we can be registered. The lady we E-mailed just said to make sure we checked and registered when we got to San Jose. The problem with housing is that I E-mailed two people about housing. One to see if anything could be done and another just to let her know what the problem is. Well, the one who I let know what the problem was said she handled it, but last night I got an E-mail asking if I wanted to reserve a room? We'll see how things work out. I'll call some people who already have things work out and live in CA. That might help a bit.

My mom is feeling under the weather. She got home last night, and she can't find any seats to sit in that are comfortable. The knee is in a cast, but any bumping of her leg or foot causes a lot of pain, as well as having a foot that is very swollen. She can't do any walking and my Dad helps her get around. I'm thinking and praying for you Mom! She has sold three dogs in her current state, but she's staying in bed today to relax. It's been pretty hard trying to get into a pattern and she's taking today off. Katie is almost back to normal. Even the bruise on her forehead isnt too noticeable but both of them could still use your prayers.

I'm starting to read through Clive Staple L's books. I really like the one I read on the canoe trip. (oops I forgot. I need to post a blog about it. Next time... maybe!) My mom had another book at home that I brought with me. The name of the book is "The Weight of Glory". It was edited by one of his closest friends and he had this to say about CS Lewis, "'The size of a man's understanding might always be justly measured by his mirth.'" and he respected and thought Lewis's understanding of the world was better than any he met. Apparently, CS Lewis was a good practical joke player. This long intro was just to introduce the quotation I found that I thought really neat, especially with everything going on.

"The second enemy is frustration -- the feeling that we shall not have time to finish. If I say to you that no one has time to finish, that the longest human life leaves a man, in any branch of learning, a beginner, I shall seem to you to be saying something quite academic and theoretical. You would be surprised if you knew how soon one begins to feel the shortness of the tether, of how many things, even in middle life, we have to say "No time for that," "Too late now," and Not for me." But Nature herself forbids you to share that experience. A more Christian attitude, which can be attained at any age, is that of leaving futurity in God's hands. We may as well, for God will certainly retain it whether we leave it to Him or not. Never, in peace or war, commit your virtue or your happiness to the future. Happy work is best done by the man who takes his long-term plans somewhat lightly and works from moement to moment 'as to the Lord.' It is only our daily bread that we are encouraged to ask for. The present is the only time in which any duty can be done or any grace received."

And I propose a toast - to today and whatever befalls.

Praise to Him who is worthy!

Ah... What an exciting weekend. It's a good thing the trip last week was relaxing, because this week has been hectic.

First, an update on the car crash... My sister is doing fine. She suffered a good bump on the head with a bunch of little cuts where her forehead hit the glass. She also got a nice size concussion, which we need to watch for a few days. She seems to be mostly fine now, but my grandma says she'll start feeling it tomorrow. As for my mom, she isn't doing too well. She has a fractured kneecap which doesn't necessarily need surgery, but it may. The doctors will give it a week. The 7 in cut on her forehead is basically a non issue as far as problems are concerned. The cut didn't have a matching concussion and the stitching was done cleanly, so my mom will just need to wear a hat for the summer so the cut doesn't get dirty. They didn't shave off much hair, and the line is pretty close to the hairline so I'm guessing my mom will tend to forget the hat after a week or so.

I want to thank everyone who was praying. I really appreciate it and so does my mom. The Lord really protected my mom and sister in a full blown, high speed crash and my mom is really thankful.

Second, I just realized I've missed a few E-mails. Normally I just look at the dark ones to see which ones are new. It turns out that a few of them have been put at the bottom of my list. Anyone with a last name past S - I apologize. And I know there are at least 3 of you I missed.

Third... Thanks to IM, this just became a late night. I will yet again put off more posting. I don't think I'll ever catch up at this point, so I may just start from square one next time (although I still plan on doing a lengthy post on the canoeing trip I took), but before I leave I did want to share one thing. I've been thinking a lot about what to do this summer. Up until the intersession class, the Lord was very clear that I should wait for an internship attached to the class. As the class approached and I lost all chance of looking for a job while still in college, the ability of me to work in the internship decreased. So at the end of the internship, I had no job search and few of the college's resources to help me out, but I was still confident and sure that the Lord had wanted me to wait. The question was then, what next. And me being impatient was starting to worry. Well, with my mom's accident, my Dad needs me to help, so the lack of a job enables me to help my family this summer, which they will really need. Most of the shows aren't possible to do with 1 person, hard with 2, and manageable with 3, so since I stay and help my Dad there are at least 2 people fully able to help! Praise the Lord!