Dec 30 2007
Here is a video of Laura leading out during the Cradle Roll section of the 13th Sabbath program at church on 12/29/07. I am using QuickTime because it is supposedly a better quality video. Let’s see.
Let me know what you think. Add a comment if you want to chime in.
Dec 27 2007
Have you seen that symbol all over the Internet, but you don’t know what it means or what it’s for? Well I made a short (7+ minutes, short for me) video showing you what to do with it. I wasn’t able to add comments on that page (I’m still learning about this blogging stuff…). So here is a blog entry where you can add comments about what you think, and if I could’ve done something different to make it better.
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Dec 23 2007
Last week we went for a little sight seeing. Hannah’s piano teacher and her husband have put together a high tech light display. When we pulled up there was a sign by the end of the driveway that said, “Tune in to 90.3 FM for a message.” So we tuned the stereo in the van to that frequency and heard a welcome message. It greeted us and wished us a happy Christmas season. We were also told that there would be three selections for us to enjoy.
The first one began and the 10,000 plus lights that we saw flickering wildly as we drove up made much more sense now as we realized that they were synchronized with the music we were listening to. And if the FM micro station wasn’t enough, and the synchronized light show is just blasé for you – how about posting the light show up on YouTube so you can share in our experience from anywhere in the world!
Here is the first one:
This is called “Christmas in Sarajevo.” Did you check it out? This was actually the second song, but the first one isn’t posted on YouTube, sorry.
And if that wasn’t enough Christmas joy and you are wanting to see the third piece performed – check this out:
After each performance we applauded (inside the van with the windows closed, of course).
We hope you can get a touch of what it was like for us. We parked right in front of the end of the “Merry Christmas” sign in the front. This was shot by Mr. Partell from across the street. Let us know what you thought and Hannah can pass on your thoughts to her teacher when we resume after the break.
Dec 17 2007
This is a first attempt at publishing a video on our blog. We are using Revver because it allows you to see some links to products – if you go there we will make a small commission. This will build up a fund to help the kids. They may even make a part time job out of videos, who knows. So don’t be afraid to try something new. This video is exactly that – something new (well at least for us).
Dec 12 2007
Whatever you do, don’t let it expire!
That is, if you want to keep it. I did just that. The domain this web site is on was purchased back in 2002 for five years. So when it expired recently, not only did I not remember the account password, but I also had no idea how the account was paid for. I didn’t even know that it was down for a week or so.
Laura’s e-mail went down, but sometimes our mail server acts up. I was unable to send an e-mail the same morning, so I figured if it was still bad when I got home from work, I’d look into it. But I changed over to a sister mail server and everything seemed fine. Then, days later, I was looking at a blog that links back to here (there are so few that you know who you are). And the back link was broken. Then I knew it was the domain name.
I contacted the hosting company to ask for them to renew it. Without a password or any way to verify I was who I said I was – they refused. I even tried to call back and ask if I could be an anonymous donor and just give them money to reactivate it and they would not. “What if the customer intentionally wants to let the domain expire. We would be going against their wishes and that is illegal.” What?!?
So I sent a copy of my drivers’ license. They e-mailed me back and said they needed a form signed and a copy of my drivers’ license copied in a box on the form. Oh, silly me! So I sent it. Then they needed information about my companies. That’s when I got frustrated and I talked to them early this morning. Oh, early? Around 6:00 am. After I calmed down and quit being so sassy, the technician offered that if I only had the credit card it was purchased with….
Well the last activity was in 2004 and the domain was purchased in 2002. Since that time I’ve been through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University (twice, and taught it twice to boot!). So I don’t have any credit cards. But I wondered if maybe I had made the purchase on an old debit card we had at the time. I went and found the number and sure enough – it allowed me back in!
I renewed the domain and in minutes we were back, live, on the Internet. It’s good to be back.
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Oct 16 2007
I try to go out with just one child from time to time. We started this little tradition a few years back. The first place we go is to the St. Louis Arch.
It would be embarrassing for them to have grown up here and not be able to tell people they’ve even visited our closest monument. So here are some memories of that outing that happened last Sunday.
We started of taking the car to the train station. Caleb’s got that GQ look going for him.
Then we took the train downtown (not that we needed to, it’s part of the fun). After arriving, we walked along the Mississippi and then came to the stairs going up to the arch.
When we got there it was about 11:00 am. The earliest we could go up in the arch was 1:10 pm. So we spent time in the museum. Caleb filled out the requirements to become a Junior Park Ranger. We learned some great stuff about westward expansion and what things were like around here about 200 years ago. We even saw what the pioneer’s cattle looked like, see?
The time finally came when we could go up. The elevator looks like a regular clothes dryer, with chairs. The place was so crowded that we couldn’t get a picture of Caleb in the actual car. But they had a practice one next to the ticket counter and we took a picture in there so you could get a feel for the place.
And, of course, he finally made it to the top! Up in the arch, Caleb had no fear. He was climbing all around the tilted windows. He would practically sit on the windows. I had a hard time leaning out to look through them.
We were tired, but it was a fun day. Then we topped it off with dinner at Sweet Tomatoes (complete with ice cream!).
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Oct 02 2007
I would rather just let my 40th birthday come and go as days typically do. But Laura went through much preparation to have a surprise for me. We went to a social at the church and they had divided off a section of the hall and decorated it and added some “over the hill” verbiage for me. Here are some snapshots…
This last picture is of me and a church friend who shares the same birthday with me.
It was a great surprise and a wonderful birthday. By the end of it all I was beat.
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Oct 02 2007
The beauty of blogging is that you can stay current with events that happen. However, sometimes the events of the day have to be reflected upon and commented about later. This last weekend was like that. We had a number of events taking place. At church we had Honey and Pal visiting. They watched all the kids for a week while Laura and I went to the Peacemaker annual conference (probably need to post some about that too! Getting behind is so un-fun). Then they were here for another week with us. And at the end of the week we had a couple of events. We started early in the church service by having Nathan dedicated. What I mean is that Laura and I have taken vows to do our best to raise Nathan (and all four of our children) to serve God and build a Christian home for them.
In addition, Hannah was baptized. Here is the first picture.
This is as she was looking out at special friends and teachers who stood as witnesses for her.
Then she made a quick preparation.
Although the picture is blurry, Hannah’s excitement and joy is evident.
And after it was all over, she gave her Pal a big hug and headed off to contemplate her big decision.
I believe that baptism is one of the three biggest decisions you can make in your life. Here they are in the order I think they should be considered:
Most people these days face these questions in reverse order.
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Sep 16 2007
I have a best friend who lives about 2 hours away from me. We used to live about 10 minuets away, but she moved away when I was in first grade. My heart was broken because we did everything together, from sleepovers to school to birthday parties. Now, a few years later, we have gotten used to it, found some new people to hang out with (but not to replace each other), and e-mail and write letters to each other. We are also on a few online clubs that we can get together on. Today, I was on one of our clubs, when she messaged me to tell me she was on. I messaged her back and we began to chat. Then, the subjects went to boys and other teenager things. I realized almost immediately that my best friend was changing on me. That’s one disadvantage of being almost 2 years younger than your best friend. That made me feel pretty disappointed. But I know we will always be Best Friends Forever, no matter how much we change.
Sep 02 2007
I was headed to church yesterday morning. Laura wasn’t planning to stay the whole time because her back was hurting – so we took separate cards. I had left in my own car early so that I could make some copies for handouts.
I was coming off of 270 over the big hill that starts the ride down 170 in towards the church. What I didn’t hear was a bang or pop of any kind. I just felt the car get suddenly sluggish and a whomp whomping sound. I was in the fast lane so I was going to head to the left shoulder, but as I looked behind me and noticed that there was no traffic I decided to cross over and stop on the right hand shoulder.
I walked around the car to see if the front tire had blown. David S. had told me at a church board meeting three weeks ago that my front tires looked low. I had filled them up with air that night and thought everything was all better. To my surprise it was the left rear tire that had blown.
I got back in my car and thought about what I was going to do next. I called Laura to tell her about it, when she answered the phone I asked if she had left yet. She hadn’t because she just heard from her parents that her grandfather’s health was declining fast. I let that sink in as she told me that we needed to be ready to make plans to travel to Lincoln if the need arose. Well I had to tell her what was up – so I just said it, “Well I’m sitting on the side of the road with a blown out tire.”
“What are you going to do?” she asked?
“Well, I guess I’ll be getting out there changing it.” I replied blandly.
“Do you want us to stop when we get there?”
“No. You can just wave at me as you go by.”
I hung up and decided to memorialize the occasion by sending an update to Twitter. For some reason whenever I send a tweet, it also goes to my wife’s phone – so she got a second notice.
It wasn’t as bad as I imagined it would be to change the tire. At least I got to take my tie off. I see no purpose for those glorified scarfs. So I sent a text message that I was done and I was ready to pull back out on the road when I saw our van slowing down and putting on her blinker. So I put my blinker on to signal that I was done already and I intended to get going. And with that we headed off to church.
Now today we had to figure out how to take care of this. I ended up heading to Sam’s Club, getting my picture so I’m not carrying around a temporary card anymore and getting new tires. If one blew out, who knew which one was next – so in typical style we said, “Just replace them all.” How this is going to impact our brand new September budget remains to be seen.
It took about an hour to get it taken care of and I’m back at home. Just another atypical day, but it’s not over yet. I still need to go visit our renter if I can get a hold of her to collect the rent… how will that fare?
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