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Winter Wednesday

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

This was going to be something like a Wordless Wednesday, but I knew I would have to add commentary so it couldn’t qualify as wordless. So I am making it a Winter Wednesday.

Exactly two weeks ago, I wrote how our church program was cancelled (am I the only one who wants to spell “cancelled” with two Ls and wonders why the spell checker won’t recognize it? It wants me to write “canceled” but not “cancelation”. “Cancelled” and “cancellation” or “canceled” and “cancelation” – make up your mind, spell checker) due to a snow day.

Now, exactly two weeks later, it is Wednesday again. And it is snowing again. And church is cancelled again.

Here is the snowfall from last time.

picture of flower barrel covered by snow

And here is the snowfall from this time.

picture of flower barrel covered by snow

The boys had fun playing in the snow and building a fort and throwing snowballs. I took Gamma on a walk down the driveway (about as long as a football field, so it counts) because it was scenic. While I was there, I took some pictures of the road because it was scenic.

Here is looking right.

picture of flower barrel covered by snow

And here is left.

picture of flower barrel covered by snow

I think that the church leader who prayed for a lot of snow three weeks ago (read the post if you want to know) should remember to pray for no more snow. It seems his last prayer is still in effect and he needs to cancell it.

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.

James 5:17

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GPS, Garage Doors, and You

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

I have seen a few articles that noted the trend of criminals who steal cars and use the GPS to drive to the victim’s house, knowing that the victim is not at home. The garage door opener left in the car provides the means for the thieves to enter the residence for the robbery.

Since we don’t have a GPS or a garage door opener, I can consider this situation somewhat objectively. The recommendations of the various writers was to leave the “Home” button of the GPS unprogrammed or to set it to a nearby intersection or local business but not your actual home address.

That’s no fun.

I say set your GPS Home location to the closest police station.

You leave your event (football game, concert, etc.) and get that sinking feeling as you begin to think your car is stolen. Simply call the police station (you do have the police station’s number in your cell phone, don’t you? And no, 911 is not their number.) and ask if they see a such-and-such car in their parking lot. No, you don’t say “such-and-such” – you need to replace that phrase with the make and model and color of your vehicle.

Of course, the savvy burglar might realize what is happening and figure you swapped your Home and Police Station entries. So don’t make it too easy and enter your home address under the title of “Police Station”. Make it “Church” or “Doberman Breeder” or something else.

But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

Matthew 24:43

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Finding Joy Friday, February 2010 Edition

Friday, February 12th, 2010

Finding Joy Friday

In cooperation with LaanyKidsMom, here is my entry for this week.

Where did I find joy this week?

Kindergarten Valentine’s Day parties
I got to attend my son’s class party, the type where everyone gives harmless cards to everyone else and they’re happy because they got some candy. And they make crafts with glue and stickers and stuff.

food at a kindergarten Valentine's Day party
craft with jars at a kindergarten Valentine's Day party
craft with paper at a kindergarten Valentine's Day party

Pick six! PICK SIX!!
No, I am not talking about the local lottery numbers. The 4th quarter of the Super Bowl brought me joy this week. It was fun to watch, although my favorite Super Bowl play is still Mike Jones’ tackle to keep the Titans from beating the Rams.

One More
The last thing that brought me joy this week (there were many more things that brought me joy, so this isn’t really the last thing that brought me joy, it’s just the last item I’m going to mention in this blog post) was my nephew was born. It was a few days early, which was odd because the C-section had been scheduled for next week.

New nephews and nieces are always nice to have, but my favorite part was his name. No, for the sake of his privacy I am not going to list his name here. Plus most of you readers are family so you already know the name. Non-family readers may email me if they are curious.

Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.

Luke 7:23

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Blogging Interruption

Friday, January 29th, 2010

This blogging break has been brought to you by the seasonal flu.

For those of you wondering why I haven’t posted much this week: we are experiencing flu-like symptoms.

For those of you who are not paying attention to how often I write on this blog: I’m not keeping track of how often you read this blog, so we’re even.

I started the family off by getting sick on Thursday. Beta quickly followed and started demonstrating his symptoms about a half hour after I did. Alpha held out until this afternoon. My wife is hoping not to get sick, but the peer pressure might get to her.

Gamma is doing fine so far. We have changed his diet preemptively so that his digestive system will be in better shape if he does catch whatever this is – all he had today was applesauce, bananas, toast, and his formula.

The kids had the swine flu back in the fall. I’ll take that over this flu any day – low-grade fever and a cough versus intestinal problems.

Having just the two kids sick is plenty. We did 3 or 4 loads of laundry today, and that was barely keeping even with all the blankets and sheets and towels that were added to the laundry today.

I hope to be back to a somewhat normal schedule, blogging and otherwise, next week.

The LORD will sustain him upon his sickbed; In his illness, You restore him to health.

Psalm 41:3

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Grief That Can’t Be Spoken

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

The row in front of us was empty at church last Sunday. We attend a small church, where news travels fast, so we knew exactly who was missing and why they were missing.

At our church, most people have their own spots. This seating chart is unwritten, of course, but well-known and followed. Our spot is behind a family. The mom and dad, in their fifties, along with their daughter, who is our boys’ Sunday School teacher, sit in front of us. Their son used to sit in that row too, before he went away to college. Their other daughter used to sit with them, before she got married two summers ago; our boys were the ring bearers at that wedding. And her parents used to sit there too, before they finished their days on this earth.

But they weren’t in church last Sunday. The marriage which started two summers ago had resulted in the birth of a granddaughter – the first grandchild in the family. That happened just before midnight on Saturday, and the family was awake into the wee hours of Sunday morning. The birth announcement was made from the pulpit, though by that time everyone knew.

She had been ready for grandchildren for a while. She was glad when it was her turn for nursery duty. The church nursery for the last several years has involved our children, and she would let us know after church how much she enjoyed watching or holding our child and how good that child was. She was an elementary school teacher, and kids were a joy to her. Even the troublesome ones received kind words from her. It would have been nice to congratulate them on the birth of their grandchild. “No matter,” we thought that Sunday morning, “we will see them next week and ask about the baby then.”

Later on Sunday, she said she didn’t feel good, and complaints were one thing you did not hear from her. She went back, as a patient this time, to the same hospital in which her daughter was recovering and her granddaughter was sleeping. She got to be a grandmother for about twenty-five hours.

Tonight was the visitation; the funeral is tomorrow. I have been to funerals before, but this is different from any of those. All the others were at least expected – advanced age, prolonged illness, etc. This came out of nowhere and was over before most people even knew it happened.

I was glad the casket was closed during the visitation. I am not a fan of open caskets. I would rather have my memory of a person be that person’s doing something other than lying in a casket. In this case, my mind pictures the photograph that was displayed at the funeral home – she is sitting next to her husband and holding her grandchild.

God has spared me from major sorrow in my life so far, and for that I am grateful. It will be rough for me to see them in church again – just the dad and the daughter now. The spot where she always sat will be right in front of me. It might be empty on Sunday, or maybe someone else will sit there. But it won’t be right.

When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled,

John 11:33

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On Behalf of Our Measuring Cups

Friday, January 15th, 2010

or “What’s Wrong with a Pint?”

With no further introduction, ladies and gentlemen, I give you this:

An Open Letter to Bottled-Water Companies

Dear Bottled-Water Company:

I see what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to sneak the metric system into America. This letter is to inform you that your tactics are not going unnoticed. The USA is supposed to use the good old Imperial system of measurement.

You still have a chance to change your ways and gain the favor of Americans. Here is my proposal on how you can do that:

put less water in your bottles.

There is precedent for this – the ice-cream companies stealthily switched the standard size of an ice-cream container from 2 quarts (a half gallon) to 1.75 quarts. And they left the price the same. Less product + same price = more profit.

You can follow the same formula.

The standard bottle size for water is 500 mL (16.9 fl. oz.). You don’t even have to change the bottle size. Just put a little less water in each bottle and change the printing on the label so it reads 16 fl. oz. (473 mL). That way the bottle will be a nice, even, standard American number (2 cups), and the metric system gets second billing, the way it should be.

Sincerely,

A Proud American

The cost of water in a bottle of water is around 5 cents. So the average company might save a quarter of a penny per bottle. For 2007, the top brand was Dasani, at about 22% market share. The US consumes around 40 billion water bottles a year, so Dasani’s share would be at least 8 billion water bottles per year. At a quarter of a penny per bottle, that would be $20 million in savings per year for one company.

What do they have to lose?

The water you drink shall be the sixth part of a hin by measure; you shall drink it from time to time.

Ezekiel 4:11

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Finding Joy Friday, December 2009 Edition

Friday, December 25th, 2009

Finding Joy Friday

In cooperation with LaanyKidsMom, here is my entry for this week.

Where did I find joy this week?
The start of Christmas

One of the signs that I am on Christmas break is that my wife makes a hearty breakfast for us all.

platter filled with breakfast food of pancakes, sausage, and bacon

That brought me joy on Christmas Eve morning. Not pictured are the scrambled eggs and the oranges. Yes, there are both blueberry pancakes and chocolate-chip pancakes. No, that wasn’t my plate – that was the serving plate.

What else?

We opened our presents.

presents under a Christmas tree

I enjoyed the presents that I got, but it was even more fun watching the kids open their presents and seeing their genuine smiles.

What else?

Our church’s Christmas Eve candlelight service

people singing by candlelight in a churchpeople singing by candlelight in a church

Only the last few carols were sung by candlelight. The first 50 or so minutes of songs and readings were done by normal incandescent light. How can you not like a service full of Christmas carols? Not just Christmas songs, but real carols that are all hymn-y and stuff.

One more

Why Christmas?

small ceramic Nativity scene on a wood background

God became man and dwelt among us. The joy comes not from knowing what He did or how He did it; the joy comes from knowing why He did it and that He did it for me.

Have a Merry and Joyful Christmas!

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;

Luke 2:10

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