Recent Events

Went to Canada to visit my Great, Great, Aunt. She is pretty cool, also sharp, for 94 years old. The picture above her is her as a younger woman. It really puts life in perspective. I think it is something good to remember.
A shirt I thought had a bit of truth.
Happy all Hallowed Eve. This is my Jack- O-lantern. If he looks like he has no brains, it is because he does not.
Douglas and Antonio did the other two. They were fun to make.

Chip

Pictures

Here is a link to some pictures of my new nephew. It is on my brother's photography website.

I am an Uncle.... Again!!!

My sister-in-law had a baby boy at about 12:30 last night. Little Peter, 9lb 8oz. That is all I know for now. Hopefully I will get a picture soon, and post it.

Reading Reviews

I have not previously posted reviews on books I have read but I have decided after reading a couple very interesting and good books that I should share.

The first book is: Perelandra. By: C.S. Lewis. As you may know this is the second book in a trilogy known as the Space Trilogy. It is not light reading, but requires the full concentration of the reader. Or at least that was the case for me. A very gripping story of a struggle between good and evil in a new world where sin has not fully entered. Ransom the main character is sent to protect the the world and prevent what happened on earth. Full of descriptions of a different world and life in a sinless world put together with the story, make it a new favorite for yours truly.

Next on my list is: Do Hard Things. By: Alex and Brett Harris. Yes the title scared me a little to, but after having it recommended a couple different times I decided I better read it. It was an amazing boost of encouragement. It dispels the myth that teens are only supposed to go to school and stay out of trouble and thats it, but that they are the ones who should really be getting their act together. It gives examples of great things that happened when God inspired teens take action. And believe it or not this book actually inspired me to start a book club, where the first book we read was Do Hard Things.

The next book I want to review and the next one we will read for the book club is: Letter from a Christian Citizen. By: Douglas Wilson. This book was written in response to a book by an atheist who wrote a book called Letter to a Christian Nation. Letter from a Christian Citizen does not only offer great Christian apologetics but is actually fun to read. Douglas Wilson is quite amazing when it comes to this kind of stuff. Here is a link to a clip from a debate he had with an atheist by the name of Christopher Hitchens. Here is another shorter clip, but it is so good.

The last but not least is: Paradise Restored. By: David Chilton. This is a book on eschatology and the bible. David writes so well and it is hard to argue with him since so much of what he says comes right out of the bible. His book also made me open my eyes to the fact that the bible is not just a bunch of stories and poetry, but a well written intricately woven document. What else would we expect, it was inspired by God. I highly recommend this book for those who think the end of this world is near or who need some encouragement in their Christian walk.

I hope I have not bored you to much. As a side note I would like to notify people that I am going to be changing my blog address along with some other things. I will post the new address before I change it. Please if you have any suggestions for things you might like to see on my blog, please tell me.

Romans 1:18-20

Chip

Just a Little Update

 Garden has had a great yield and not just the tomatoes.   This was not even half of the tomatoes.  
Carrots about fifty pounds, onions one hundred pounds, and potatoes three hundred pounds.  

                   
      Made an awesome dinner with the sisters, sushi was just one part.
Went on a hike at our local state park, it was fun and beautiful.   And as always people got a little silly.

    I like this one.

  God is a great artist.
    My sis, she is cute.

   I am really blessed.  Yes I am.  Life gets better and better.   My health is not given out on me, even though put it through some tough spots.  Most recently I have had my two sisters visiting and a foreign exchange student from Guatemala.  So our family expands yet again.  Speaking of expanding families my sister had a little news... aha I am going to be an uncle again.  

School makes the days go by so fast and thankfully I enjoy it.  Math and science never stop amazing me in how well they work, hmm, like they were designed.  Gulivers Travels is kind of weird, but has some interesting ideas.  History is kind of depressing.  It is all good stuff to learn.

So it has started to snow and winter is upon even though I like to think fall is not yet quite over.   

Chip

 

Flowers and Insects

    What was supposed to be at the top of this page ended up at he bottom sorry.

 I am not sure if any of you are familiar with the divine proportion, if not that is what those spirals in the sun flower are based on.  It is complex to explain now, but I encourage you to look it up.  

  Flowers and insects are often used to describe things of little importance or significance Even in the Bible tells us to look at the lilies of the field how they do not toil or spin and yet God cares for them, for not even Solomon in all his splendor was not adorned as one of these.  Or to look at the ant how he has no leader over him, yet he goes about his work Just to show that even the smallest things that may not seem important carry important lessons.   Here are some pictures I took this afternoon of flowers and insects that are screaming, "I am designed!!!" a lesson some people have a tough time learning.  

Acts Blog

   You have probably noticed a new link labeled Acts Blog.  At our church we are going to be learning about Acts in our Sunday school.  Anyway the different teachers are writing their thoughts down on this blog.  I highly recommend taking a little time to read some of them.  My dad is a teacher so if it says DR at the end, that is my dad writing.

 Chip

Some more Woodworks

                                 Put this one together with a friend.  We found the wood in our

                          forest.
                               Had this idea from some of the spin art they were selling at potato

                          days.  The illusion makes it look like the ball moves up or down when

                          thing is spun.
                           My sister drew this design of my other sister's name.  So I thought I

                      would carve it.
                         I did not do all the detail, but I was not sure of how well I could do

               it, so I skipped it. 

      Chip

A Potato

                      This is the way my nephew cleans balls at the golf course.  Nothing half hearted.
                          Saturday morning, day 2 of Potato Days. 
                         For those of you are not familiar with this local custom, every year Barnesville

               has a festival focused around potatoes.  On Saturday morning there was a 5k/10k   

            run/walk, here I am coming across the finish line.  I still do not know my exact time,     

             it was under 26 minutes(for the 5k)
                      Here I am before the race, blink blink good morning.  
                         Here is the junior strong man contest, basically consists of lifting a

                     fifty pound sack of potatoes onto a progressively higher platform.

                  Here my cousin is trying for six feet.

                                Seven was simple for me, but man eight and a half feet is really high, that is

                     where I got bumped off.  Oh and how you lose is if you let the sack touch the ground.

                          My bro was one of the last three, he got up to about 9 1/2 feet.
                                       The winner got it all the way up to 10 1/2 feet.
                             This is the real strong man contest where they use a 100 pound potato

                      sacks.

                             Here is sowing and stacking, the guys are timed.  Five bags as fast as 

                      they can.   And while all this was happening there were potato eating, sculpting, and

                      peeling contests going on.
                                    To close out Friday they had a demo derby.

                               An orange haired kid in bib overalls, wow.
                              Waiting for mashed potato wrestling to start.  It was not really wrestling though.

                         Other events included a car show, a really long parade, lefse cook off , golden potato scavenger

                        hunt, some great food, potato picking contest, kiddie parade, potato sack fashion show, and a miss tator

                        tot pageant.  

                          I love living in the land of ten thousand lakes.  It is not quite like the 

                   ocean, but it is still beautiful.

Daily Dose

  Laughter is supposed to be good for you, the bible even says it doth  good like medicine.  So here is your daily dose.  And sometimes we laugh because it's true.

When Pastor Jackson over at second Presbyterian got fed up with all the excuses folks give for not attending church he offered his own list: "Ten Reasons Not to Wash."

1. I was forced to as a child.

2. People who wash are hypocrites-- they think they are cleaner than everybody else.

3. There are so many different kinds of soap, I can't decide which is best.

4. I used to wash, but got bored and stopped. 

5. I only wash on special occasions, like Christmas and Easter.

6. None of my friends wash.

7. I'll start washing when I get older and dirtier.

8. I can't spare the time.

9. The bathroom is never warm enough in the winter or cool enough in the summer..

10. People who make soap are only after your money.

http://llerrahmusic.com/viewcard.php?code=236079  This link is to a hilarious one.

  And just one more.  The evolutionary scientist after many years of intensive research and failure finally synthetically created a living cell.  He announced proudly the next day at his

press conference, " ahem, ladies and gentlemen yesterday as you know I proved that it takes no intelligence to create life."

 Chip

Happy Anniversary

This picture was taken 32 years ago and is a record of one of the greatest promises made by man, because it is an example of the promise God gave.   

I thank God many times for giving me the parents I have, ones who not only remain true and faithful to each other, but faithful to God, and have made sure that there children grow in the Lord.   Happy 32nd Mom and Dad.

     Chip

Latest Woodworkings

                         Getting back to the workshop, it is great.  I sort of pulled these two off

                     and got them done on time for my Grandma's surprise birthday party.  I am

                     working on an owl that will hopefully be done in not to long.

                  Chip 

All Mixed Up... or is that Down??

                                          Just to prove it actually was/is broken.


                                 Some people think it is an insult to be told they look like a dog, I wonder what dogs think.

                                             Makes me want to go see what's on the other side.


                                            Crop circles, I love looking at stuff from up high.
                                             Walking to my connection flight to Long Beach CA.  It is weird to walk through an

                                      air port alone and yet surrounded by people.
                                                Visiting my sister in law, niece, and nephew.
                                        This is the cute girl I met in Salt Lake City.

   Ahh, the life of this fifteen year old never seems to get boring.(which I am extremely glad of)  I most recently visited my sister and brother in law down in CA.  Had a ton of fun despite having my collar bone broken by one of the most excellently designed and created waves of the pacific.  Every time I visit the ocean I discover that I love it more and some new thing about it impresses me.  This time it was the thing that broke my collar bone that impressed me(no not compressed, even though it did that also).  The wave is so beautiful and so powerful, and it reminds us of the fact that there is someone who keeps the world going.  Waves are constantly moving in, building up, and breaking over themselves.  And they have been doing that since the world began with the same bone breaking power.   

Now another thing I did down in CA besides marveling at waves was I visited sea world(ton of fun), visited friends(ton of fun), and celebrated Josiah's birthday and the 4th of July(ton of fun) and of course that was not all but just gives you an idea of how tough my life is.  OH, One more thing if you ever get a chance to go snorkeling...      Go.

It is amazing to breath and look around under water in the ocean.  Though seeing a couple one foot sharks is a little freaky, even if they pose no threat.

Besides living on vacation I have been sort of thankful for broken collar bone, it slows life down a little and allows time for some much needed reading, carving(which has not happened in eons it seems), running, and just chilling which comes in many different forms, such as fishing, playing games, hiking etc...   

Sorry about the mixed up form and the sparsity of pictures, but that indicates I was having fun.  

Chip