Faith

I can't remember, but I imagine I blogged about going to Hobby Lobby to show support for them in their fight against the government who is trying to force them to pay for things that are anti-Bible, thus trashing religious freedom, one of the main things protected by our Constitution. 

When I was there, I picked up a few things. A couple I have on my mantle now. The hanging piece has Proverbs 2:2 , one of my favorite Proverbs. "Trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understanding."

Ron is facilitating a class at church and in our small group right now about faith and I was drawn to this definition of faith: "Faith is taking the first step when you can't see the whole staircase."

May your  faith be strong and your days peaceful.

Target Practice

While Greg, Chelle and the triplets were in Florida in January, they had the opportunity to get in some safe target practice with Poppa.  

I am happy to see this activity done as a family.  Gun safety is best taught early. One must learn to respect guns...not because they kill people.  (They don't.  Just like spoons don't make people fat.)  But they can be dangerous in the hands of those who don't know how careful one must be.

Firearms  are for gaming and for protecting oneself or other's from  those  who aim to kill or maim.

If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns...thereby making it unsafe to be a law abiding citizen.

The most unsafe city as far as guns are concerned is Chicago, where it is illegal to have a gun.  And that proves my point.

Who Is This Masked Man?

Is this a  Pizza Truck Robber or our Pat, friend of granddaughter, Lauren?  Those eyes should be a tip off, but they are not.  Lauren,did you frighten him?

Both of you are calling on old defense mechanisms to put up with that cold white stuff. Both of you were 'defectors' from the north. But, I understand at least Lauren has 'come home' to the frigid north and plan to stay in Yankeeland.  Glad to have you 'home' even it is over 6 hours by car from here.

As our children and grandchildren grow, so does our government.

We need to remember what a former US president said: "A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have." -- Thomas Jefferson

Identify With the Elephant

John boosted Caleb up on his shoulder to help him get a better look at the elephant.

 I'm hoping he gets a good impression of elephants, because many in his family relate in some way to those big pachyderms.  

As one of those people who would like to see the country head in a direction of freedom instead of slavery, I identify myself with the elephant politically.

Early this year, we unsubscribed to our local newspaper because it was so disheartening every day to read the platitudes of the left stated as fact.  However, I started missing the small  news articles about little things that were going on around town.  I also missed the comics, which can cheer my at times when I'd really just like to sell everything and move to the moon.

I've been fortunate to have good neighbors who feel sorry for me and let me recycle their newsprint.

As I hurriedly read these used newspapers in catch up mode, I have come to admire Mark Twain even more. It was he who said,  "If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed." That is quite true today.

Pizza

One thing about having an Italian restaurant in your family, especially a GREAT one, you can always get your fill of pizza.  Naturally, we turn to Angie's often for our favorite dishes and one of those is pizza.  

However, once in a while, we drive down the road from church to a place called Donato's to grab lunch and visit with our friends after services.   Today was one of those times. I'm not sure what got into me, but the pizza looked so colorful and good and I was quite hungry. I grabbed my iPhone and snapped a photo. I really didn't have any business eating it. The last couple of weeks, I've been adding pounds because I'm being pulled by things like ice cream, chips...anything I shouldn't have.

Boy, did I enjoy that pizza.

Come tomorrow, I'll have to add another hour of activity to my schedule.  It will take work to get back on track.

Slipping up with my diet is like we've messed up our education system. Even though we should have known better, it was easier to set back and let the educators get away with indoctrinating our students in socialism.  Now, we  need to buckle down and get to work and deprogram these young minds before our country falls right before our eyes.

Character II

Yesterday,      I featured our character, Mason.  Today Aussie shares the lime light. They both deserve the  title.    Like Mason, Aussie has been in several plays as different characters. But the  biggest reason I would call him that...he IS one!  He has a funny streak and his quick wit keeps us laughing.  One thing is true. He could get himself into a bit of trouble with some comments if they weren't just downright too funny.

He reminds me of his uncle John and my paternal grandfather.

Aussie, You are bright. I'm praying  that you will increase your knowledge and  grow in wisdom. 

Turn your ear to wisdom
    and apply your heart to understanding— Proverbs 2: 2

Character

Wish I could have been in Florida with the  triplets this January...but we've stuck around in the snow this winter. Am so glad they were able to go and visit with their paternal grandparents. Hoping there will be nothing to keep me from seeing the kids this spring or early summer.  I would like to pick them up and bring them back here for a few weeks.  There are so many things they haven't seen...like Niagara Falls. We could have a good time.

Okay, I'm just dreaming, but it is a sweet dream.   

Hoping Mason's great smile warms lots of hearts. It puts joy in my heart. 

 I pray that Mason will grow in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man as we are told Jesus did in Luke 2:52.

Proverbs 10:1

A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son brings grief to his mother.

Fresh Eggs

Fresh eggs are so good, and gathering them is lots of fun for city slickers practicing their back to nature, third world skills.  

There will probably be more and more of us raising chickens before long.  I can't say that is one of the worst things about our  country spending itself into bankruptcy.  It surely beats going without gasoline or electricity

Genesis 9:3

Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

 

The Beginning

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.⁵ God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

⁶ And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” ⁷ So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. ⁸ God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

⁹ And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

¹¹ Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. ¹² The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

¹⁴ And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, ¹⁵ and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶ God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷ God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

²⁰ And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” ²¹ So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” ²³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

²⁴ And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. ²⁵ God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Then on the sixth day, God created man.  Since that day, man has studied the wonders of his surroundings.  

My layout shows Caleb at the Denver Zoo , where he has just seen one of God's  wonderful creations, a long necked giraffe.

Denver Zoo

You can't beat a trip to the zoo...especially if you are three years old. Wish I could have been there to share it with them, but am happy to get pictures. Caleb seemed to enjoy his time there. Here he is getting a good lesson about the size of a polar bear.  They certainly are not the size of those at Build a Bear.

There is so much to learn, but Caleb is well on his way. He doesn't miss a thing.  His mom and dad  are serious about seeing to it that he experiences as much as possible.

It is sad to see so many children  in our own country who grow up with very limited views because they do not get these lessons.  We should do all we can to make sure our populace is better educated than they have been these last 30 or more years. Public schools, for the most part, have failed. And today, the students are truly undereducated  for the world in which they must live. In many areas, they are seriously dumbed down. History has been rewritten.  Even some math has become guesswork instead of  facts. Our literature has been polluted by inappropriate trash. Grammar, spelling and handwriting may as well not be taught at all. It is not being learned.   

If after reading this, you do not believe it, either your children  and/or grandchildren are exceptional, or you are not paying enough attention.

I suggest that we all investigate what is being taught in  our schools. And don't just listen to the flowery words that come from the NEA. They are part of the problem.  I'm not willing to put all the blame on the schools, because there are many problems with absentee parents as well. There is also the problem of parents who want to believe that their own children are saints and can do no wrong. They do not support any discipline from the school, what little they are allowed to administer.

Oh my. I'm sorry. I'm really sounding negative tonight.  Forgive me...but at the same time, plug in and know what is going on in your child's school. If you find that I am wrong. I would really like to know.

Playhouse Square

If you enlarge the layout, you can read that we enjoyed Les Miserables a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't made a layout because I failed to get pictures that night. That is starting to be a problem for me.  Whereas in the past I took way too many pictures, I am becoming lazy and either depending on others to snap their shutters or not even thinking of photos. I really need to set my priorities if I am to continue keeping a history of the family.

I am in the midst of studying what is most important in my life. I suppose age does that to a person.  Whereas I would have said all along that my relationship to God was my highest priority, I have found that some would say that I spend more time thinking about the state of our nation.  Now that is not what I want to project. God is all I need. If ever anything gets more attention than God, I will be shirking my duty as a child of the heavenly father.

That said, I am still quite alarmed with the way things are being handled in our nation. I will do what I can to educate those who are ignorant. I will still accept the beliefs of those who disagree with me and have reasons other than a blind sheeplike faith in politicians or the media.

I know that our God is in control and that if we turn from our wicked ways, he will save our nation. He said so himself in His Holy Book.

Moving On Up

Our granddaughter was anxious to get back up north. She is a real Yankee.  She had only 2 more classes between her and her degree, so she convinced them at the University ofAlabama to let her complete her courses on line from home in Pennsylvania. She will graduate in May, but she has a real job and will begin working in March.

This layout shows her last day at Smoothie King where she  worked while at school in the south.

Tonight I am posting the same thing here as I did on FaceBook last night.

It is the most beautiful thing I've even heard come from a father's mouth.  

How blessed this young couple is to have a Father who cares this much. It is heartwarming.

Listen and enjoy:  Watch here.

God Showed Us Love

I really wanted a couple picture here, but  Ron was so quick to get into comfy clothes  after our guests left last night, that I didn't get a picture of him. He said we could do it another time. Sure we can, but that leaves just me on the Valentine page.

We had friends join us for a very good dinner last night at a restaurant we hadn't tried before... a Hot Spot in Lake Cable, called simply,  91. It has a wood fired oven and we really enjoyed out dinner. But silly us, passed up dessert, then spotted Dairy Queen on the way home and stopped in for blizzards. You can't beat them...but then, it was a cold Valentine's evening. We took them home and ate by the fireplace.  After getting ourselves sufficiently chilled, Ron broke out the Frustration game and we sat , cheered and laughed over a couple of games. It was Mike and Trish's first time to play and they left wanting to find the game.  Ron had cut our board himself and we don't think they still make the game.  So I think Trish will be searching the antique toy stores for one.

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." I John 4:10

Living so far away from all my grandchildren is not my idea of  grandmotherhood. I thought we were supposed to spoil them. I'm not close enough to take them through the stores and observe what they seem to like. But through pictures, I sometimes get some good clues.  For example, these pictures show Caleb with the first animal he liked at Build a Bear. He decided later that he wanted a bear...and it was really cute.  But when I see that cute face with this doggie, it hits my heart strings. I love dogs and it is a darling dog. I'll just have to remember that when I get a chance to take Caleb to Build a Bear. I do know that I must also be prepared to like any other 'pet' he might choose instead. 

As usual, I'm not up to date with my pictures.  While today is Valentine's Day and I wish you all a very happy day, I do not yet have any Valentine pictures. I will most likely have one or more before the day is up, but then I won't have time to make a layout.  Maybe tomorrow will be all hearts and flowers.

I'm wishing you love.

1 John 4:8
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 

On Ice

While John, Beth, Caleb and Rado were on the ice, neighbors came out as well. Caleb enjoyed being pulled around the ice on  a  sled with a little friend.

While the little children are having a great time, many of our young of voting age (and others who should know better) are being pulled around by their noses, so to speak. They are being tempted by the smell of money...money that doesn't  exist here and must be borrowed from China at the tune of $50,000 a second.  As we borrow, the dollar's value is falling, prices are going up at a rapid pace. Those who once could bring money into the coffers with thriving businesses are having their hands tied by higher prices for supplies and fuel and insurance for their businesses, and taxes to cover employees and illegal immigrants who just show up on our welfare rolls. Now the president  wants to raise the minimum wage.  Yes, it would be nice if everyone could make enough to have a new car in the garage besides their cell phones and huge plasma TVs, but it isn't possible without bankrupting the whole nation. Businesses that can not make a profit can not continue to exist. We are taxing them out of business. Not only do we lose their products and have to buy from other countries, we lose jobs.

It boggles my mind how we can be so blind sighted as to not understand what is happening here.

The only peace I get these days is from the source of love and peace, the living God, and  in the knowledge of His word. For example: "For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them, but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm." Proverbs 1:32-33

Boy, Dog and Snow

Great combination: Boy, Dog, Snow...That's hard to beat.


Tonight I"m thinking of another subject that would be hard to beat: A Christian doctor who had what it takes to be president of the United States.  Dr. Benjamin Carson.

He was  on Hannity's  TV show on Fox News this week.  This is a portion of the interview: "Seizing upon what many of Carson’s supporters are probably wondering, Hannity asked him if he would ever consider running for president. The doctor did not it rule out, but said God would have to 'grab him by the collar and make him do it.'”

It seems fit to me for us to pray that God does just that.

Draft This Man

It is winter in Colorado.  The marsh in John and Beth's neighborhood is frozen. Caleb needed to learn to navigate on it. After a little practice with his dad, he did it.  Now he has sure feet on the ice.  I guess the skates will come next. I can envision a game of ice hockey out there in the future.

I am also envisioning a new direction for our country, if we can get Dr. Benjamin Carson to run for president. Not sure how we would go about this. He is an accomplished brain surgeon.

You will do yourself a favor, if you will take a little time to hear his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast this year. He first tells about his childhood, the direction he was heading and the path of correction he took which got him into and through medical school. You will be impressed. I was.

  Dr. Benjamin Carson of John Hopkins made quite a hit with his speech.  You have probably heard about it. You will be duly impressed by his knowledge and ability to say what he believes without noticeable fear.   Watch it here .

A Crafter's Brain

It takes a certain kind of person to be a craftsman...and Chelle is that person. She is constantly doing something for the triplets or a class at school, for friends and she doesn't neglect herself either.  She has knitted hats and scarves and mittens. She never uses a pattern. It's beyond my comprehension. No wonder she doesn't have time to sleep.

All this activity prevents her from sitting in front of the TV day to day like the habit of some is.

Actually from what I've been told more and more people are turning off the TV more often.

I rarely watch it myself, except for this time of year . We are now watching American Idol...two days a week and Downton Abbey.   However there is a show I'm looking forward to seeing. It is The Bible, scheduled to begin on Sunday night the third of March.  It is an epic 5-week mini-series on the History channel.  See the official trailer here .

Caleb and Friend

It is good to see Caleb and his friend playing so well together.  I hope he has a life time of good relationships with others.  

I also like his Buzz Lightyear  outfit.

Sorry. This is it for tonight. I'm checking out...the mattress.  

Deja Vu

In case you are wondering,  I don't drink nor do I do drugs. I am quite boring, I suppose.  Anyway, I just noticed that I put the same layout here on Monday and Wednesday. I did feel a little deja vu when writing it the second time .

Tonight, I'll have two new ones...one for Friday and the other  for Wednesday, plus two more to finish out the story.  All are pictures taken at Build a Bear.

After the animal is complete, the new owner 'bathes' it. You have to use your imagination here...pretend water, etc.

The next step is to choose clothing for the 'bear' .  There are hundreds of choices.Caleb dressed his as Buzz Lightyear.

The last step before visiting the cash register is to fill out the forms for a birth certificate.

Mission Accomplished. He is ready, with a smile on his face, to take his new friend home.

Les Miserables

Instead of a layout tonight, I'm sharing a picture Ron got with his iPhone while we were killing some time at Starbucks before the show. These are our tickets to see Les Miserables  at Playhouse Square in Cleveland. 

We have friends who enjoy the play every time they get a chance to see it and I wonder sometimes if they could hold the record for attending the most performances of Les Miserables. They are the reason we snapped the picture, because we were wanting to let them know it made us think of them.

We love Les Miserable and we were not disappointed. It was by far the best we'd seen.

It was a great  finish to an around good day. 

This morning we had our first Ladies' class of 2013. We are studying Proverbs and the passage that really caught my attention today was this:  Proverbs 1:32-33

32"For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them."

33."but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm."

Since I do 'listen' to God through His holy scriptures, verse 33 is a real comfort to me. I hope it can be to you as well.

Colllege Degree

Perhaps I should change the blog to The Adventures of Caleb. What is it now? One week of Caleb layouts? Well anyway, I'm trying to catch up with the pictures...had planned to put four layouts on tonight to complete the Build a Bear Saga.  However, I'm working too slowly these days.

Tomorrow will be another Caleb day. Maybe I'll finish  these before he goes off to college.

And speaking of college. Have you see the latest statistics on college degrees?  They involve some sad numbers...for example 115,000 janitors have college degrees. No, a degree is not required now for that job.  But so many people are getting degrees these days that there are not enough jobs open for those with diplomas.

I have my theories about encouraging practically everyone to go to college, but  it would require a much longer blog tonight than I am willing to write. It would affect my quality of life to push myself to expound upon  my treatise that not all should grace the doors of universities. A real fact is...not everyone should go to college. There are many careers that are necessary to provide services and do not necessitate higher education. We are unwisely pushing too many people into higher education. And as we all know,  a bachelors degree is a very expensive thing to waste.

Biggest Smile

Caleb is the shortest child, with the biggest smile.

Super Bowl Sunday does nothing for me. I don't like spectator sports. I'd rather do than watch any day. This year all I knew was the names of the two teams, one from San Francisco and one from Baltimore. Ones name is the 49ers and the other is the Orioles, no that is a baseball team, I think. Oh, it is the Ravens. I don't know which city has which name.

But I did get a big smile on my face when I heard that the  commercial for the Dodge Ram starred, a fine radio announcer from the past, Paul Harvey. What a beautiful comforting voice he had.  It was his, 'So God Made a Farmer' speech. If you missed it or would like to relive these moments, you can find it here courtesy of CBS.

Bear Shopping

This is one adult who really appreciates Build A Bear. I should own stock in it. It's a delightful place to go, especially the first time. I'm sorry I had to miss this , his first visit, but so glad to have all the good pictures of each step of the 'process'.  

After picking out the bear he wanted, Caleb proceeded to the station where it was stuffed, he picked out a heart and went through the part that makes the bear part of him, so to speak. It is so cute to see.

I love Caleb's expressions.

On another less pleasant subject, Government health care may soon put a damper on businesses like Build -A- Bear.

It is now coming to light that under the new health care plan, a family of four will need to pay ...sit down and grab your wallet... $20,000 a year for their 'free' health care. Now, don't think you can find a cheaper plan...remember this is the government's plan. THIS IS THE PLAN!

This, by the way, is the cheapest alternative. There is a platinum plan, a gold plan, a silver plan and the one that is the cheapest is called the bronze plan...$20,000.

Of course, you can go without insurance and pay a fine to the government. Isn't that great?

But you can relax for a while. In a regulation issued Wednesday, the IRS 'assumed that under Obamacare the cheapest health insurance plan available in 2016 for a family will cost $20,000 for the year.  Did you catch that?  You may be all right until 2016.   Boy, and we were worried, right? No cause for alarm, choke, we have three more years until then.

"Sno Picnic

Caleb gets a lot out of his farm school. He seems to spend quite some time there. This  day, he had his thermos. And I'll bet that was the best hot chocolate he ever drank. But it was no picnic that day...a bit cold for that.

Lesson for today. 'Sno Picnic is a double entendre. And so is under the weather, which I am today.

The Littlest Jockey

I didn't get this picture until recently. I found it on FaceBook. A friend of Beth's had taken it back in November at Farm School. 

 I always thought 'cowboy' when seeing  children on horses, but this one rang out loud and clear...JOCKEY.  The Littlest Jockey... perfect.

Today was the little jockey's birthday. He turned three. I'm not sure why he was  born on Groundhog Day. I suppose he just popped out to see his shadow. Glad he did. He's been lots of fun for all of us.

One thing I did for his birthday was to send him a video of him made by Story Bots. I chose a picture from my computer, the Story Bot people put it in an Old MacDonald Had a Farm video.  After I had watched it several times, I realized that there was not one video, but 10 different ones. They were all cute. He, the perfect star, of course.  

After dinner this evening, we called him with FaceTime so that we could wish him a happy birthday and watch him as he watched the videos. What fun!

I would recommend StoryBots.com.  New this year, it is a creation of the same brothers who started JibJab, similar videos made for adults, which I've enjoyed on occasion, since our friend Jane has made several. 

Some of the other song videos they will make for you is Row, Row, Row Your Boat, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Srar, The Alphabet Song, and Jumping on the Bed.  It's fun for kids and grownups.

Change

Caleb had a good time unwrapping presents on Christmas Day. This is a gift he got from his maternal grandmother, Carol. He calls her something really cute like TaTa. If it weren't so late, I'd call to check on that. In any case, there will be a correction tomorrow, it need be. 

 It looks like Caleb will spend many hours playing with his people.  Why did we once think doll houses were not for boys? 

Why did we once think we had the right to protect ourselves? Many people today believe it is not a good idea.  They would rather leave us unprotected and targets of less honorable people who will always have guns and will always use them against law abiding. Anyone in his or her right mind would realize that lawbreakers will not hand in their guns. They'll do everything including making their own weapons and  running bootleg gun manufacturing plants. 

And again I say...guns don't kill people, people kill people.

Chicago and Washington DC are two of the most dangerous places in the country to live because they are more likely than anywhere else in the US to be shot by a person wielding a gun. And get this: both cities have gun bans.  In other words, if you didn't  get this,  it is more dangerous to live in a place that has a ban on guns than to live in a place where criminals can expect that others can defend themselves.

Change is neither good nor bad. We must think before making any drastic changes...like gun control.