Tinman

My parents sent me money for my birthday so I bought 2 movies that no one else would buy me :) I am watching Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy right now and will start Tinman after dinner.

Movies

This weekend we rented movies. We watched The Spiderwick Chronicles and The Other Boleyn Girl. Both were excellent. Noah gave Spiderwick 2 thumbs up and E stayed awake for the whole "grown-up" movie.

Got-To-See

And it is "G" rated. Great family movie!

Need a Game

Need to find a new game to play for July 4th. Does anyone have a favorite game that they would share? Most of the kids are between 2 and 9. We set up a carnival sort of thing at the park with the neighbors. The "big kids" are having a football game so we need to keep the littler ones occupied. Any and all ideas are solicited :o)

Wassup?

Been kind of a weird week. The constant covering of smoke makes it look like a hazy/overcast day. It is hard to remember that it is summer. It cuts the sunlight significantly. Work-wise, it has been pretty productive as I have finally been able to remove a handful of items from my task list.

Food-wise, it has been mundane. This week we have had Sonic, hamburger helper and chicken on the grill. I just haven't been in the mood to really cook this week. I stand in front of the freezer ad draw a blank. Mind you, there is plenty of meat in the freezer, I just can't figure out what to do with it.

E had a rough week with a very abusive patient and has been glad to get a couple of days off. This weekend I need to fix the upstairs shower. The spigot leaks when the shower is on which reduces the pressure to the shower head (which isn't all that great to start with).

blessings on your day

Are You Intimidated?

Some people are easily intimidated. Even when they know they are doing what is right, they let themselves be bullied into backing down. The enemy does not want us to succeed. Satan does not want us to prosper. There are times in all of our lives when we look around and decide that we need to make a change for the better. It may be that you are looking at some aspect of your life and choosing to be different. It could be your health, your weight, a bad habit or your relationship with your spouse. No matter what area you choose to focus on - to work to improve, you can guarantee one thing: you will meet with resistance.

Nehemiah 6:9 They were just trying to intimidate us, imagining that they could discourage us and stop the work. So I continued the work with even greater determination.

God never promised that we would have it easy - a fact that we know well. To achieve a goal, especially one that we value highly, we must be willing to meet opposition head on. We must be willing to persevere in the face of resistance. We must look at the obstacles and setbacks as simply part of the course.

James1:2-4 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

In the end, it is always worth it. Never give up!

blessings on your day

After The Ball

The leftovers from the VBS program this year. E was on the hospitality team (ministering to the the other volunteers) and her team dressed as princesses

And The Sun Was As Blood

We are praying for relief from the smoke

Late Blooming Calas

I love my calas :) Usually they bloom in April/May. This year they are very late but as lovely as ever.

'Maters

This is from about 2 weeks ago. As usual, they have taken over the side of the house :)

Fire Update

As of this morning, the number of fires burning was 842. Almost all of them as a result of a "dry lightning" storm we had. They recorded over 5,000 lightening strikes. Of course we haven't had rain for a couple of months so everything is VERY dry. Instead of a brown California, we have a brown and BLACK California

The FoxNews report is HERE.

:,-(

Down it goes

The news reported today that 4 years (4 years!) of gains in the housing market have been wiped out. Basically, anyone that bought within the last 3-4 years has lost their shirt or is sitting on property for which they owe more than it is worth.

The full story is HERE, and I encourage all my readers to click on the link.

May God have mercy on them.

Self-Proclaimed

An ex-traffic cop in Siberia announced in 1991 that he is Jesus Christ. Some comments from the article:

I sat down with a group of women and asked about their first time meeting Vissarion.

"When I saw him the first time my soul recognized him. I could not cope with my emotions and my soul cried, 'It's him, it's him. He is on earth!"' Galina told me.

"It was as if a flood came down from the sky and my body was shivering nonstop!" Tatyana added.

Click here for the full text of the article.

For the record, this guy is either nuts or a crook! Either way I doubt that I will see him in heaven.

Is It Apathy?

Often, as I drive home, I listen to Christian talk radio. Late last week, the host talked about an incident that took place in Central CA earlier in the week. A man (separated from his wife, probably on drugs) stopped his car in the middle of a rural road and proceeded to "beat the demons out of" his 24 month old son.

A car pulled up, stopped and the driver got out. The driver's girlfriend dialed 911 (start the clock). A minute later another car pulled up with the same results. Within seconds a 3rd car pulled up and a group of young men (3 or 4) got out. All of the people confronted the deranged man and tried to get him to stop - to no avail. 6 1/2 minutes after the 1st 911 call, a sheriff helicopter landed and the man was fatally shot. The child was pronounced dead on the scene.

Now the discussion begins: What would you have done?

None of the people did more than verbally assail the man. Granted he was obviously deranged and dangerous (he may have had a knife, but there was no gun visible). There was 5-6 adult males standing around and not a single one was willing to physically try to stop what was going on.

Is it apathy? Self-preservation? Fear? Why was no one willing to risk their own safety to save that little boy?

What would you have done?

Get Ready

4th of July Neighborhood Party Invite

Start the day with a pancake breakfast!
When: 8:00am – 10:00am
Where: Jimmy the Greek’s Front Yard

Play a game at the Kid’s Carnival
When: 10:00am – 11:30am
(Details will be provided closer to the date!)

Enjoy a Football Game!
Tigers vs. Guys
When: 11:30am – 1:30pm
Where: Summerhill Park
Tigers: Andrew & Friends
Guys: Captain Sex, Antoine, Wayne-O, Jimmy the Greek, Jack Sean, and The Duke

Take a break – swim – relax
Pull up a BBQ!!
When: 2:00pm –
Where: Lanoie Back Yard
Details: Bring your drinks, meat you want to cook and a side dish/dessert to share

Fireworks will be masterfully displayed in front of the Jentgen/Alger and Lanoie homes.

Red Sky at Night

...Sailor's delight, red sky at morning - Sailor take warning. So goes the nursery rhyme. What does it mean when the sky is red morning, noon and night? Stay indoors! Looking at the paper this morning, it seems that most of NorCal is on fire. It passed "unhealthy" 2 days ago and is into the "extreme hazard" zone for anyone suffering respiratory problems. We want a wind to clean out the valley but realize that wind is the fire fighter's worst enemy. Until then we find things to do inside.

blessings on your day

Who Is God? (pt 2)

For me (at least right now) God is my Rest and my Peace [Jehovah Shalom]. Finding rest and peace in this world can be extremely difficult (many days it seems impossible). Whenever I feel overwhelmed I (work hard to) find a corner somewhere and open His Word. I find enormous comfort in reading the Scriptures. God's love, promises and grace flow through the pages. I often focus on the Psalms of David. There was a man who was constantly either beset and hounded or in the pits of despair over his own sin and inadequacies.

Often, by reciting what God has done for me helps me to focus. Once I start to focus, I can pray - and prayer always leads (eventually) to resting in His Peace.

blessings on your day

_______________________________________________________________

Leviticus 26:6 "I will give you peace in the land, and you will be able to sleep with no cause for fear. I will rid the land of wild animals and keep your enemies out of your land. "

More Phones

Spent a while at the Sprint store Saturday as well. AR was eligible for a new phone and we added SE to our plan (well she does live with us, ya know) and got her a 916 number. We had our friends Lee & Lisa over for dinner last night. I roasted a chicken and potatoes on the grill. It was yummy.

The upgrade at work went smoothly as well. I was online for about 90 minutes and did not have to fix anything ;)

New Phone Anyone?

So we spent 2.5 hours at the Sprint store last night but finally came home with a new phone for E (and a new, more expensive plan of course). She wanted an iPhone but hates AT&T. Samsung released it's new Instinct iClone yesterday into the wild. It really is a sweet phone. Apple does media better, but Samsung fixed some of the things that people didn't like about the iPhone. Overall, I think she will like it alot.

blessings on your day

Broken Hearted

A recent article on FOXNews.com talked about a huge uptick in teen pregnancies at a MASS. high school (article is HERE). As disturbing as the article was, one thing really hit hard:

"But the other thing we should realize is that we are hot on the heels of [17-year-old] Jamie Lynn Spears deciding to start a family and of mass media embracing the notion and waiting with bated breath for her baby," he said.
.....
"In a world that is so technologically based, there will be predictable push-back from young people," he [Keith Ablow] said. "They want to remind themselves that they are alive and human. One of the ways people do this is that they reproduce."

Please pray for our teens.

Leftovers

We had recycled dinner last night. I took the leftover (crock pot) chicken from the night before and made an alfredo based dish. It was pretty yummy, even the boy ate it. Tonight I am trying a chuck roast/stew i the crock pot (yes, the crock pot is my friend).

E's car will be ready towards the middle of next week. She is on day 2 of her Chemo class at Sutter. I guess being a nurse means you are always in school. AR got back from football camp last night. He is burned, bruised and tired :) Guess that means camp was a success. He is also 1st string on both defense and offense (corner back and wide receiver respectively).

On a more somber note, Brian's mom, Nana Vera had surgery this morning to unblock one of her carotid arteries. It was down to 15% :( They will do the other side 6 weeks or so. Please pray for both of them.

blessings on your day

YooHoo

Anybody out there today?

Who Is God? (part 1)

Who is God to you? The scripture is replete with descriptions of Him (I included a few of my personal favorites. In the end however, you have to figure this out for yourself. This may be (is!) the most important question that a person can answer. The bible tells us that the answer to this question will ultimately determine our destiny.

Psalm 95:3-6
For the LORD is a great God, the great King above all gods. He owns the depths of the earth, and even the mightiest mountains are his. The sea belongs to him, for he made it. His hands formed the dry land, too. Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the LORD our maker

Psalm 103:13-18
The LORD is like a father to his children,tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he understands how weak we are; he knows we are only dust. Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die. The wind blows, and we are gone -- as though we had never been here. But the love of the LORD remains forever with those who fear him. His salvation extends to the children's children of those who are faithful to his covenant, of those who obey his commandments!

Broken Fenders

Have I ever been busy this morning. I have been completely buried and am just now getting to the point where I can start working on the list I had for today.

E spent several hours this week trying to sort out the insurance mess. The guy that hit her had State Farm. They raked her over the coals and basically threatened to tie the claim up for months. I have a very low opinion of State Farm. People are NOT allowed to abuse my wife :(

Allstate did the best they could to get things resolved and today State Farm admitted that they "owned the liability" and authorized repairs. (w00t!)

I downloaded several new sermon series from Chuck Swindoll today as well (putting my birthday money to good use :). I will let you know how they are.

blessings on your day

JS to the Rescue!

Well Jack-Sean saved the day. SE lost her alarm remote for her car and for the last 4 days has been unable to start her car. JS happened by this morning when she was trying (again) to get the car to recognize the key. Jack-Sean knew how to override the alarm (a scary thought actually), jumped the battery (which died during all this). Voila! SE is now a driver rather than a pedestrian. Ultimately he saved her many dollars.

Thanks JS!

Our Oasis

Isaiah 40:28-31 Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of His understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

Looking for the door

In one of Heinlein's stories, "The Door Into Summer," there is a cat who is constantly checking all the exits from a house looking for the one that isn't "winter" outside. I can truly sympathize with that cat. There are many days when I wish I had a door that opened out onto a beach somewhere. A door I could duck into to get 30 minutes of recharging and refreshment.

God reminds us that *HE* is our rest and our refreshment. I think He is also our "door into summer." David writes often of the rest he found in his Lord. I struggle to remember this most days. Fortunately, even when I forget, He never fails.

blessings on your day

Dark Tower

During lunch today, I finished Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series. Far and away the best thing he ever wrote. I am not a huge fan of the horror genre so I was skeptical of anything King wrote. I was shocked and amazed when I started these books. They are more like his Green Mile story than anything else. An epic tale of one man's quest, the story quickly sucks you in and never lets go. For any of you who enjoy westerns, SciFi or Fantasy, this series is a "must read."

A Great Father's Day

As usual we went golfing for Father's Day (that being what my dad likes best). This year the Boyd family was absent and E joined us. She did great and scored only one more stroke than I did. Not surprising as all 3 of her (biological) children are very athletic.

Afterwards we went over to Addie & Ray's house for the yearly extravaganza. Addie always caters the whole thing. She had a huge water slide for the kids, chocolate fountain, margarita machine, killer appetizers, lots of junk food and a fantastic spread of Mexican food.

Most of my kids came up for the weekend. AJ and AC couldn't make it which made me sad, but I talked to AJ and they might come up another weekend when the house isn't so crowded. I love them both dearly and the day wasn't the same without them.

blessings on your day

Happy Anniversary

Dinner at The Melting Pot

I Love Cheese

Tonight we are going to the Melting Pot for dinner. We love fondue :) One of the things that makes that a nice restaurant is the time it takes to have diner. It is not unusual for diner to last 2 1/2 hours. That will probably be the longest block of time that I have had with my wife when we were both awake.

Doctors :P

What is it about doctors? They all seem to want to collect stuff from you. Every time I get a new doctor there is a new set of tests. Somehow it doesn't seem fair, eh?

Last night we had a pizza party at Round Table after the game (RedSox 11, Cardinals 10). The coach bought the pizza (thanks Tim!). Tonight E and I are going out to The Melting Pot to celebrate our anniversary (9 years :).

blessings on your day

We Are The Champions

Roseville West Little League, 2008 Farm Division Tournament Champion Red Sox

It's Fire Season

The fire season kicked off full-force yesterday in NorCal. We had a drier than normal spring (they may institute water controls) so everything is brown. With the hot, dry winds ythe last few days, any small grass fire quickly grew out of control. The skies were hazy brown most of the afternoon and the sun was definitely dimmer and more yellow this morning. All in all, it is a good day to stay indoors if you have respiratory issues.

blessings on your day

No Pix Yet

Still haven't had a chance to upload the vacation pictures to PicasaWeb. They are all on the PC but not online :(

Last night I had SE help me whip up a quick chicken-n-rice casserole for dinner. This evening is the semi-final match between the RedSox and the Diamondbacks. Whoever wins will play in the game the Farm Division Champion for Roseville West Little League. Tonight we get to play on the RWLL home field (Richard's Park). I will probably have SE put a veggie lasagna in the oven for after the game.

Godly Counsel

This is the topic of Walt Henrichsen's Thought for Today. It seems that when we ignore the counsel of those around us that have wisdom, we often end up places we would rather not go. There isn't room to post all the times this has happened to me. My life is littered with the wreckage of bad choices - choices that others tried to counsel me against. I have always been one to insist that I know what I am doing - that I know what is best for ME.

"People usually get into trouble when they try to function outside their expertise; they fail to follow the counsel of proven men. Most will agree that the decisions they made and later regretted would never have been made in the first place if they had submitted to the counsel of proven men."

When it comes to expertise in the area of life-choices, none of us are wise (except in our own eyes). It seems that we are incapable of learning from the mistakes of others and insist on the right to ruin our own lives. What little wisdom I possess has been acquired the hard way; by choosing poorly and ending up face down in the dirt.

My prayer for you today (as well as for myself) is that you listen to what the people closest to you have to say.

blessings on your day
_________________________________________________________
"But as he was speaking the king said to him, "Have we made you a royal counselor? Stop! Why should you be put to death?" So the prophet stopped, but said, "I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel." 2 Chronicles 25:16

What you lookin at?

A California Sea Lion sunning on a rock. He got rather nervous as I climbed out to get the picture even though there was a fair amount of water between us.

The Whole Gang

This is in the lobby of the Marriott as we were getting ready to go to dinner.

It was your fault!

Penguins at the aquarium. This was one of the few exhibits that wasn't completely native to the area. E loves penguins.

Feeding Time

The Kelp Forest tank is 3 stories high. They sent a diver down with a bag of squid to feed the fish. Do you know the difference between squid and calamari?