The Truth Project presents Philosophy & Ethics: Says who?

Tonight at church, Stan picked up this compass which provides a visual picture of the Truth Project's study goals. I think the visual of the temple is better (truth as the foundation, philosophy & ethics are the two outside pillars) but we haven't yet received a copy of that. If we do, I'll share with you. Click on it to make it bigger.
Proverbs 23:7 "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." continues the theme of last week's query, "do you really believe that what you believe is really real?"

Definitions:
Philosophy - "The love of wisdom which sends one on a scientific quest to discover ultimate reality (truth)" (R.C. Sproul); "[with the aim to]...enlarge our understanding of God. True religion and true philosophy must ultimately arrive at the same principle." (1828 edition Webster's Dictionary)
Ethics - Morals were defined by social norms. Ethics were defined as how things ought to be. The two words are now considered synonymous as statistical ethics which our culture defines through normalcy and survey data. In other words, "good" is determined by what is, rather than right and wrong being defined by laws expressing & applying the nature of God to life.

Dr. Tackett's opening question: "Have you been taken captive?"

2 Timothy 2:24-26 24 "And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25 Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will."NIV

Colossians 2:8 8 "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." NIV

We heard worldview 101 from Carl Sagan and William Provine, outspoken adherents of "cosmic cube" thinking and relativistic ethics. How very, very SAD.

1981's Humanist of the year, Sagan's assumptive language describing his "cosmic cube": "The cosmos is all there is, or ever was, or will be; we are made of star stuff" presents the view that there is no God in such a way that, without discernment, many are deluded. This philosophy places all that is, was and will be into a box, alone, without God, rejecting the Biblical presuppositions that God IS and has revealed Himself to us through His creation, His Word and interacts with us Himself.

The examples were given of philosophers Aristotle, Plato & DiVinci who failed in their quests for Truth by staying inside the box of their own design (no God) which lead to depression, despair, despondency and foolishness.

Postmodernism proclaims that there is no absolute truth (My kids say: Isn't that statement an "absolute"???) but that each person must make their own truth; that opposites can be "truth". This leaves no foundation for ethical standards, no meaning in life, no way to determine what is reality = chaos.

Our worldview (what we really believe is true, our personal philosophy/ethics) drives how we think, act, feel. If we buy into the lies of the world, we conform to the world in our mindset, actions, emotions. We lock ourselves in the box.

PTL there is a Solution!
Romans 12:2
2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." NIV
2 Timothy 2:15
15 "[Study] to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." NIV
2 Corinthians 3:18
18 "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." NIV

Don't be deceived & held captive by the hopeless lies of this world. Come to your senses and get out of the box!

Blood, Sweat, Tears and Gas

After several years of being able to jump only on other peoples', we have been blessed with a new (for us) trampoline frame.

My friend, Mardy, is getting her home ready for the market & saw that once again her kids had jumped through their mat. She didn't like the eyesore and didn't plan to buy another mat, so offered the frame to anyone who could use it.

Conversely, my kids managed to break the welds on multiple legs of 2 different Hedstrom trampoline frames - they actually had a recall for this and replaced a number of leg Ts for us before going out of business. (out of business = no more replacement leg Ts) We've kept the frames knowing that in some point in time we will find someone somewhere who can weld those legs back on for us even though we've never really looked for that person...

So, when Mardy offered the frame (which had survived multiple mats) I was happy to help her out. Tuesday, Stan & I drove (= GAS) to Newberry to get it - 1.5 hours in his truck with no A/C in late afternoon (HOT!!!) through rush hour traffic in Gville (= SWEAT). In addition to the frame, we were blessed with a short/sweet visit with the Freemans and cold lemonade.

Wednesday, when Caleb & Rachel put the frame together there were wasps flying around & Rachel was stung (=TEARS but she's fine now!). While stretching the springs from frame to mat, Caleb & Andrew rubbed blisters on their hands & burst them (=BLOOD & other bodily fluids we really don't have to discuss.)

Anyhow, now we have 2 frames with broken legs that can now leave this homestead with the understanding that we really are NOT going to ever get those legs welded back on. Let me know if you want to come get them.

I plan to post pictures once this place gets hopping again.

Pun intended.

Love that Chocolate Bunny

As a part of our The Princess and the Kiss study, Rachel & I were discussing the difference between true love and romance. I compared true love to a solid chocolate bunny and romance to a hollow bunny which sometimes looks even better on the outside but is lacking in completeness.

I said, "You don't want a hollow bunny relationship but one that's solid, full of chocolate."

"Yea, " she agreed. "Or full of nerds."

Maybe that was a better object lesson than I realized...

LOL!

Wakin' up the Rooster

"Poor" Jacob left the house about 6:30 a.m.

This semester he has a class in G'ville on Tuesdays & Thursdays that begins at 8 a.m. He's having some trouble adjusting to this new schedule. He's never had to wake up this early to be anywhere on a regular basis before. He said it's messing with his mind.

Tuesday he woke up at 5 a.m. & couldn't get back to sleep. Today he woke up at 4.

As he headed out the door he muttered, "If it keeps on like this, I'll be waking up before I go to bed."

LOL!

Face Painting & Veritology: What is Truth?

We had an excellent beginning to FOTF's Truth Project at church last night! Great turnout awa lecture producing discussion & self-examination. The lessons were taped in a classroom where student interaction and reaction adds to the learning environment. The video lecturer, Dr. Tackett, describes himself as our tour guide leading us on a comprehensive and systematic "tour" of worldview using the temple structure to describe the foundation and framework of the course topics, all for the purpose of gazing on the face of God.

Here is the whole tree in a tiny nutshell:
1. First question: "Why was Jesus born?"
Answer: John 18:33-38, "...to testify to the truth"
Note that man's sinful nature will suppress, distort, reject, and exchange God's truth for lies.

2. The cosmic battle of good & evil: Spirit of Truth vs. Spirit of Falsehood, Reality vs. Illusion
See 2 Thes 2:9-13 for the link between salvation & truth.
Note that every sin that besets us can be traced to a belief founded on a lie.

3. Second question: "What is truth?" *The most important question facing our society today.
Pilot asked Jesus this in John 18, then walked away from Him.
One possible answer: "Truth corresponds with reality as perceived by God." (R.C. Sproul)
Note that insanity is defined as losing touch with reality so that one believes that the lie is true.
> Our actions are the most reliable indicator of our beliefs.
> Faith, hope and trust have no value unless based in Truth.
Colossians 2:2-3 God is the ultimate source of Truth.

4. We were left with one final question to ponder:
"Do you really believe, that what you believe is really real?"

Before the church service, we had a Children's Choir Kick-off Carnival. Rachel said, "Now that I'm in youth, they [the children's department] are doing all these new things!" The kickoff had all the typical church carnival booths: fishing for candy, ring toss, cake walk (brownies & cupcakes in this instance), pick-a-swimming-duckie, bean bag toss, popcorn, corndogs, and a couple of inflatables for jumping around. The children's choir director came around the SS classes a month or so ago asking for help in running the booths.

Our class took on face painting. Fun! I got to paint on people ON PURPOSE for the first time! I even convinced one adult to get a cool cross on her bicep. :-) I might have done a better job if I'd had a chance to practice the designs on paper first or didn't have to lean way over to reach my target cheek.

I had an interesting conversation with a young man while painting a design on his hand. He asked how often we had the carnival and I told him that it was the first one. He commented on all the things that made it enjoyable, then asked, "is this the best one?"
"Well, it's the first one."
"But is it the best?"
How funny! I smiled and said, "Yes! It is the best."
Then was overwhelmed in my brain: and the worst, had the most attendees and the fewest, lasted longest and shortest, etc.
He later returned and blessed me with a brownie.

The first girl bestowed with a painted face figure from moi came back and saw me working on someone else. She announced that she wanted another.
"Sure!" I replied.
She watched me painting and commented, "Your hand is shaking."
"Yes, it is," I agreed.
She watched a moment or two more then said, "I think I'll have someone else do my other one. OK?"
LOL!!
"That's fine," I snickered.

Maybe my Mom would like one for her birthday today? Happy 65th!
Now you just pick out a design for your face & I'll slap it on there for you.
I am now experienced. :-D
And that's the truth.

Fay-ded Away to Soup

Fay has officially left the area although we are still experiencing occasional rain and thunderstorms from bands feeding into her. Our unofficial grand total of Fay rain is 6.3 inches. Woohoo! Thank you, Lord, for the rain! Everyone returns to work and/or school tomorrow; their Fay-cation is over.

We had an old-timey tent revival for a little while this a.m. when the lights went out at the start of the worship service. We reached for the hymnals for words since power point requires power to run (duh!), opened the doors for sunlight - it was not storming - and away we went. Fun, fun, fun! PTL! Some people pulled out their little pocket flashlights to see the words. With no A/C & all that heat generated by everyone singing, the choir was allowed to dis-robe during the welcoming of visitors. (Now don't be dirty! You know what I mean!). Electricity returned just in time for the choir special. I was glad because it was "Let the Veil Down, we're in the presence of the Lord..."

When days are dreary, I often like a good pot of soup. I invented one on Friday using a pound of the cubed steak (sprinkled with garlic powder, salt & pepper then dredged in flour) dropped into a boiling pot of water flavored with beef bouillon, bay leaf, steak sauce and containing mixed veggies, stewed tomatoes and cubed red potatoes. It was good but I still prefer my rendition of my niece's mother-in-law's Chicken Tortilla Soup, so that's the recipe for the day:

Start with 12 C of water in a soup pot. Heat on medium/high temperature to boiling and while you are waiting for the water to boil, start dropping in the ingredients. Add 12 bouillon cubes, 6 each chicken and beef. Trim, cube then add to pot, 1.5 - 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast. Chop and add one medium onion. Add one can of 10.something oz. Roitel Tomatoes (or the generic diced tomatoes and green chilies) and one of 14.5 oz. stewed tomatoes (cut into bite-sized if too big). Measure out and add 1.5 t. each of ground comino (cumin) & chili powder; 2 t. each dried cilantro & Worcestershire sauce; .5 t. black pepper and 2 T steak sauce. Mince and add 4 cloves of garlic.

Your soup should be boiling. Cover with a tilted lid, reduce heat to simmer and let cook while you work on the tortilla chips: Cut up corn tortillas - I usually cut them in half then into strips about an inch wide. Heat oil to 350 degrees and fry handfuls for 4-5 minutes. Dump onto absorbent material (I usually use a paper bag with paper towels on top) and salt while hot. These homemade chips are very popular so I make what looks like waaaaay too much then we eat them all.

30 minutes before serving, raise temperature back to boiling (if it is not), stir in 1 C white rice then cover & reduce heat again. Original recipe included the option of adding bite sized pieces of zucchini now too but I've never tried it that way, preferring to make my own options. I guess brown rice could be used but I'm uncertain as to how long it would have to cook.

OPTIONAL: 10 minutes before serving, add a can of black beans OR garbanzo beans OR whole kernel corn (Rachel liked the corn best but I didn't care for the sweet crunchies in this soup) OR any other canned veggie you think would be good. You do not have to drain off the liquid.

The soup can be eaten as soon as the chicken is done/tender or can be simmered a long time for more flavor (crock pot friendly - but it has to be a BIG pot). Remember to stir occasionally and to add more water if needed.
To assemble: Put a handful of chips into bowl. Ladle over the soup. Top with your favorite shredded cheese.
Oooooeeeee. It'll make you pat your feet. I know, because my father-in-law said so. BTW, today is his birthday. Happy 81 years, Dad!

Fay-ding Dreams

In Fay we saw the potential for lake revival. We dreamed of swimming, boating and fishing once again in our own back yard.

Fay appears to be leaving our area. I believe that by adding all the Fay Days together we may get between 5 & 6 inches. We currently have measured approximately 4.75. We could use over 20, but are most grateful for what we have received, and with no notable damage. PTL!

It has been breezy and overcast with sporadic drizzle or rain all day. We have a mess of small branches that need to be hauled to the burn pile once the wind finishes with its removal services.

It was nice enough this evening for us to go for a walk on the "island" and down the road. Stan stepped into the lake where he had mowed, I believe on Tuesday, and estimated that the lake was up maybe 10 inches. It's a little soggy on our property and creeping in from the left.

Sounds like it might be raining again. Lake recovery has got to start somewhere.

Fay-de to Gray

Gloomy skies are still bringing the blessing of rain. It is now falling diagonally from the other direction. We have branches down but nothing big. Wed. afternoon Stan drove the movable vehicles down to the clearing by where the lake used to be, away from trees just in case some large limbs took the plunge.

Stan just braved the wind & rain to twist the TV antenna back into proper position so we can watch the Olympics, specifically the USA men's basketball game. Messed-up reception was the big complaint last night but it was too dark to fix, so instead of Olympics we played dominoes, TRAIN, to be exact. Rachel beat Stan by 4 points. I was headed for 300 points myself. In case you are not familiar with the game, low score wins...

The cats have been loudly complaining but refuse to come inside. Two look miserable with wet tails. Smokey just grins since he has no tail to get wet. Smug Manx. But he still doesn't like having wet feet.

Stan dumped 1 inch from the rain gauge this a.m. - that's the total for last night. Brings us up to about 3.5 recorded inches from Fay - not sure if we are measuring all that sideways H2O. He just reported that we have some standing water in the lake bed rut so the lake is slowly rising. PTL!

Stan has today off work again but was told Wednesday that if they did not work Thursday or Friday to plan to come in for OT on Saturday.

Jacob had to open at Ace at 8a.m. They are not busy but have sold a lot of propane. Andrew has been kind enough to let him drive Sport so he won't get soaked on Lurch. Andrew did ask Jacob to pitch-in for some gas. Here's a photo of Jacob headed to work taken last week.Do you like his helmet topper? He's been teasing about getting a Mohawk haircut for ages. He is now recognizable to friends in town. His friends. My friends, who call & tell me what they saw him doing. Oh, the joys of small town living. :-)

Social Culture

At lunch Caleb looked at the slices of Boston butt roast and asked, "Do I have to eat meat?"

Stan responded, "How can you have any pudding..."

Jacob & Andrew robustly together, "...if you don't eat your meat?"

Caleb then asked, "We have pudding?"

Everyone busted out laughing except Caleb & Rachel who started arguing about, uh, discussing if someone should make some pudding.

Ah, my hubby's rock-n-roll lyrics and trivia mind. At least he hasn't said to me, "Hey, Teacher! Leave those kids alone!"

Fay Effects

Weather update:

At my house, it's been overcast with occasional drizzles most of the week. Stan emptied 7/10 from the rain gauge yesterday. It is raining diagonally now and the trees are waving their arms in surrender.

This has been good, steady rain with almost no thunder and nice cool temperatures. "Thank You, Lord, for the rain." Area lakes could really use the water.

Stan has benefited from Fay by getting a free day off work - free because no leave is used plus he still gets paid. He'll find out later today if he is expected to go in tomorrow or not. Andrew had yesterday off & Jacob has today off but they don't get paid for hours they don't work.

Church canceled services last night. Disappointing but prudent. The Focus on the Family worldview study entitled The Truth Project begins this Sunday with video & discussion groups. Woohoo! http://37blessings.blogspot.com/2008/07/truth-project.html

County schools are closed today - not sure if they closed yesterday. My poor homeschooled kids still get to do their schoolwork.
Don't you feel sorry for them?

Weather report just said that Fay is slowly moving in our direction. It's already in Jax with 25mph sustained winds and gusts up to 40. There's a predicted 6 - 20 inch potential rainfall for our county, depending of course, on which direction Fay winds up heading. If you are keeping an eye on us weatherwise, we are approximately latitude 30 N and longitude 82 W.

We are not expecting anything like Hurricane Frances, which left us with no electricity for over a week. Conditions are not bad. Blessings are already evident. I'll keep you posted!

Library Workshop at Lake Yale Baptist Conference Center

Jan and I went to the one full day of the 3 day Hawaiian themed workshop. We were told that this annual state-wide conference is not scheduled for next year and the future is up in the air. Attendance has been dropping so more regional activities are expected to be planned. I will miss beautiful Lake Yale and the conference center buildings since this is the only activity I've ever attended here. I've appreciated the library workshops because they've opened my eyes to the possibilites awa explained the practical applications of what we do. There are attendees from other states and denominations from large to very small churches, some whose libraries have been in operation for many years and some just looking into how to get started. I always learn new things that help me improve in this ministry. PTL! Maybe a state-wide workshop could be planned biennially instead of annually. That's usually how often I get to attend anyway!
Jan and I made the most of our day, leaving early enough to arrive in time for breakfast and stayed through the final class of the day.

After supper, we were entertained by Margaret Davis, a very imaginative and funny singing ventriloquist from Orlando. http://talkinghand.net/default.aspx She shared her testimony with us and introduced us to her librarian neighbor who helped lead her to the Lord. Precious.

In past years, many large, extremely creative and intricate displays were arranged for our viewing pleasure and to whet our promotional appetite. I always looked at them and thought, "Cool! No way could I possibly do that and even if I tried, I'd have no where to put it." These from this year are much simpler and do-able. If you want to see them better, I believe if you double-click on the photos they will enlarge, right click and save if you want to keep the ideas.

Another Blonde

Since Stan has been home in the evenings, one of the things we have enjoyed doing together is watching Wheel-of-Fortune (glorified hang-man game, but fun) and Jeopardy (the original Trivial Pursuit). We try to figure out the puzzles before the contestants, calling out our answers, sometimes impressed that we know more than those folks actually in the spotlight potentially winning the big bucks.

Yesterday's final jeopardy topic area was "State Capitols".

We were settling back down on our couches after a commercial break ice cream run when Stan announced, "I know ALL the state capitols."

The kids just looked at him.

"Try me," he said. "Ask me any state capitol."

Caleb, trying to pull a fast one, said, "Assyria."
(Yes, we home school...)

Stan looked serious. "I SAID state. Come on. Give me any state."

Andrew said, "Rhode Island."

Stan said, "R!"
Then he crossed his arms & leaned back with a cheesy grin.
We all cracked up.

Yes, we had just lived a blonde joke. Who knew he had it in him?

Back to School

We are "officially" back to school today, although I wonder if it is really possible for a homeschooler to do much that is officially official. And does it even matter?

Caleb & Rachel have been doing their FLVS classes for close to 2 months but were not considered "officially" promoted at church until yesterday.
Yes, Rachel is now in youth. Her brothers have been in training for several months as her protectors. She & I have been discussing the mean-ness that sometimes pervades youth (girls often more than guys) and where her self-worth is (should be!) derrived: She is a child of the King, designed by Him & bought with a high price> so very valuable and precious to Him awa her family. As long as puberty doesn't turn her into a raving lunatic, she should be fine.

And now a moment of silence. I have no kids in the preschool dept. and none on the way. My last child is out of the children's dept. I am torn, half wanting to dance, half wanting to cry. Enjoy those little children!! Enjoy! The days may last forever but the years truly fly.

Now shake yourself off & move onward.

After creating a beautiful "official transcript" to submit to the FL athletic governing body so Andrew can try-out for the basketball team this year, I discovered written in their information that "home schools cannot create official transcripts" so I changed the title to "Student Academic Record" & printed it out anyway. Hopefully they will accept the info and permit him to attempt to make the team.

He didn't make the team when he was a freshman but at the time, I heard certain mutterings about the new coach (who is no longer there) so don't know if maybe he could/should/would have otherwise. Doesn't matter now. He heard about tryouts a couple days too late when he was a sophomore. His college Spanish class was conducted right after high school let out so the time didn't work last year as a junior. This, his senior year, is his last chance at high school basket ball so we'll see (in a couple of months!) if it's a part of God's plan for him this year or not. And, the "official" best part? He has his driver's license so can officially drive himself. :-)

More TN Pics

But, I'm not starting with TN. These were made in Atlanta on our drive up. For those enjoying the rural life, I'm memorializing wide highways with High Occupancy Vehicle lanes. I do not miss city driving even a little bit. Here's the Olympic torch from when Atlanta hosted the 5 rings. My guys have enjoyed watching them this year.
I started calling all the twisting overpasses "spaghetti" on a trip through Houston. We were pleasantly surprised that most of the time, traffic wasn't bad.
One of the places that Stan always has to visit when we go to TN is Smokey Mountain Knife Works http://www.eknifeworks.com/webapp/eCommerce/main_front.jsp whose store contains everything you can want or need with a blade plus many other outdoorish items (and anything else they think people will buy - great cookware dept and special foods). It is also a knife museum with many taxidermied animals and other cool collectables. There are 3 or 4 floors to explore. I tried to get some photos that would show the depth of the place.
I was not expecting us to be able to make this trip since Mini is still not running http://37blessings.blogspot.com/2008/04/mini-saga.html and http://37blessings.blogspot.com/2008/07/mini-saga-continuing-story.html
but Stan said that since I REALLY wanted to go that we could look into renting something. It was not as $$$ as we anticipated so we splurged. Kia joined the family for a brief but memorable week complete with 13 cupholders (is anyone ever really that thirsty?), an amazing amount of storage in the back, individual AC vents, and side doors on BOTH sides - but everyone was so used to using the one on the passenger side, I don't know that the other was used except by Jacob who sat beside it. We averaged over 21 MPG & the AC spoiled us.
I liked a special mirror in the front that allowed the front-seaters to keep an eye on the mid & back seaters. Sorta like these photos. It was also our first experience with remote locking/unlocking/alarms. I could get used to this.

The kids noticed right away that the seats were not as comfortable as Mini's. True. It was still a great alternative, and a blessing to get to go.

Shhhhh.

Don't tell.
We visited the secret city.

Well, I guess you CAN tell, since it's not been a secret since WWII. It even has a cool museum, the American Museum of Science and Energy
http://www.amse.org/

Because it had been so long since we visited Oak Ridge (Stan thinks we carried Rachel the last time), we decided to do it again this trip to TN.

There was much that seemed new to us including the Twin Towers Memorial greeting visitors entering from the parking lot.
In the patio area beyond the towers, in opposing corners facing each other like prize fighters are two large whisper dishes. They look like huge satellite dishes with four metal arms extending outward and meeting in the center as a small circle in which you speak quietly to the person listening waaaaaaay over there at the other dish. Cool. The kids played with them each time we passed by.
I did discover ACCIDENTALLY that when one stood in the middle of the patio, midpoint between the two dishes, the conversation could be overheard.

Jacob: "Hay, Caleb..."
Caleb: "What?"
Jacob: "You're a NOOB."
Caleb: "YOU'RE the noob."

Ah, the sweet nothings siblings whisper to each other.

There were lots of great activities in the museum including a MUSEUM detailing the history of Oak Ridge complete with timeline.
On the bottom floor were many mind bending puzzles plus an area where some science fair winning displays were, well, displayed. I had the kids look at them to oooh & ahhhh and see how impressive was this work of 4th & 5th graders. The hands-on portions of the museum were the biggest hits. These were made on the second floor.

Here we reflect on everyone's super powers.


One of the museum's new offerings is a bus tour of the old nuclear facilities. We had to sign wavers and agree to be searched & to take photos only when allowed. We should stop glowing in the dark before Christmas arrives. JJ!
Here's the first graphite reactor, fueled by natural uranium, where radioisotopes were produced and nuclear research was done. Our tour guide used to work & still lives here and provided excellent eyewitness tales.

A to scale model of the facility.
This part of the tour featured their newest research facility. They are very proud of how 6 different universities are working together.

We returned from the tour in time for a special program in the auditorium. Who did the show feature? Your favorite tourists!

It's my understanding that these little units do basically the same thing as the big guy described above.

Our hair (yes, I did it too!) slowly began to rise once the machine started hummmming & making sparking sounds.

Us up on box shaking our heads: shake, shake, shake & the hair starts waving

Audience: laugh, hoot, hollar, snicker, hahahahahahaha

Our hair stayed friendly even when we weren't touching the little sizzler until we stepped off the box.

Us stepping down: hop! Our hair: flop!

Audience: Oooooooh, Ahhhhhhh.
Cool science! It takes so little to entertain.

We volunteered Jacob & Andrew when the MC asked for a couple of "strong guys". Who better than our weight lifters? The static electrical charges were passed along in a shocking manner - we could see the light flashes. Bzzzzt! Bzzztbzzzt! We laughed because the guys KEPT shocking each other instead of stopping once they found out that's what happened. Then they switched spots & did it some more. Bzzzzzzt!
I guess the secret is now out.

Picture me with shorter hair

Mom has been after me to change my photo on this thing so hopefully she likes this more recent one better. No more nagging!

RReunion Photos

My cousins Danna & Jacque - amazing how much D looks like Uncle Jack. Thanks Jacque, for all your hard work making this day happen - and you are still smilling. We appreciate you!

Cousins Ian & Jenny (with her hubby Asif) and 3 of my kiddos Busy, busy!

I believe the last time we were with Karen & Rick was in 1983, before Stan & I were engaged & just after Rick got out of basic training when we all climbed Clingman's Dome. It was so great to visit with them.

I wish I could get these guys together more often. Maybe Lucas could round up enough players for a game of rugby. I hear he's quite good. Kevin says "no way" is he playing.

My famous Aunt Betty Jean

Family Tree, sorta

Don't know why these guys tried so hard to keep me from taking their picture. Looks like Kevin's mouth is open. And Jacob's. Anyone surprised?
This looks like a serious conversation between Jody, Uncle Jack & Danna.
Aunt Dee, Aunt June, Karen & Uncle Jimmy - All seated are my dad's living siblings.

TN photos @ Grandma Day's house

4 kiddos squeeze onto the couch with Grandma R. And they all have their eyes open. This time. Now, why are the two tallest doing the standing here? But too many nice smiles to exclude.
This is much better. Presenting 4 kids with their Great Grandma. Beautiful hair, Grandma!
Since he wouldn't pose, I caught Uncle Gary playing waiter. He & Aunt Elaine blessed us with PIZZA plus Grandma D made her yummy banana pudding. There was much rejoicing among the kids. Of all ages. Cool T Uncle G. Jacob talking to his sweetie. She couldn't come on our trip due to a gallary opening Friday night. She was bummed & said "I miss the whole trip just because I have to spend 2 hours as the featured artist. I better sell something!" He kept saying, "I miss Maryn." Poor kid.
Two sisters and their mama. Say "cheese" everyone! You can thank me for not posting the other ones - you know what I'm talkin' about. :-)
"Noogie, noogie, noogie!"
Jacob shops for Christmas gifts from the "store" Avon Lady Grandma brought with her! Rachel pretends to be a bucking horse for Maurice as we watch the Olympics.

Thank you, Grandma, for inviting this invasion of your space. We love you!