Wow.....

...lots of love in Washington. Thanks Jon D for the laugh.

McCain/Palin

HT TC

Chilling with Talladega

Garden Update....

I have a garden at John and Dorothy Graves. The Indian corn in the middle and and the two rows to the left (onions and beets) are mine as well as everything to the right (squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, zucchini, and tomatoes. The tomatoes seeds came from "somebodies" family that brought them straight from Germany. Ask Dad for details.

Wild Driver

I will say no more..... she actually enjoyed it.

World Record Wiffle Ball Game

This was a fund raising event that will go into the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest wiffleball game.....24 hours worth.

Local Pastors were serving as Official Guinness Book of World Records Witnesses. Alan Thorpe from the Assembly of God and I ran the 11 pm to 3 am shift. I am not sure what I was trying to do when Kenton took the picture. It appears like I have my front teeth over my bottom lip....

My little warriors that braved the night to be part of the contest.
2:39 a.m.
Iron Man Mike with 2 TV crews filming. WSEE 35 and ?
Ben Brozich - the mastermind behind the game.

Kenton waiting to catch the home runs and collect a dollar.

I snapped this picture of Kendra. Later on I found out to my horror she was picking the winning ticket of the 50/50 raffle. I asked her why she did it and she said "He told me to pick the winning ticket!"

The last home run......if you look in the right of the picture you will see the cooler of drink heading Ben's way to give him a good dunking. Unfortunately I did not have my camera going.

Here is a pic of Ben after getting dunked with the cooler.

Teams shaking hands.

Ken getting a reward from his dear wife for 24 hours of ball playing.... I may have to try that myself to see if it fetches me a kiss. LOL!

Lined up for the awards ceremony.

149 Innings

Final score:

White Team: 935 Blue Team: 514

What Biden Says About McCain and Obama

HT to Tim Calhoun

Standing for His Own Funeral

....weird and wacky news!

Carlos Medina, right, kisses the cheek of his deceased brother Angel Pantoja Medina who stands erect, leaning against a wall during Pantoja's wake in their mother's home in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Monday, Aug. 18, 2008. Medina, who was killed on Aug. 15, 2008, had wished to be standing at his own wake, and was embalmed for the occasion.

Lake Erie Sturgeon's

This Sturgeon is still alive, just worn out from the fight. They turned him loose after the photo. It weighed out at over 1,000 lbs and measured out at 11'1'. It was 56' around the girth and took over 6 and a half hours for the 4 guys taking turns at the reeling it in. Any Sturgeon OVER five feet has to be released unharmed and cannot be removed from the water. They are brood/breeding stock and probably older than most of us.

That moment just before the pain begins...

Hat tip to KC Newcome

Last Door Update

Greg Hatcher Construction stopped by to help us out finish up the outside of our project. I do the electric work and sweat copper piping for his construction business. We help each other out quite a bit. Pictured below is Bradley Hatcher finishing up with caulking around the door.

(l. to r.) Chris Hatcher and Greg Hatcher. If you ever want a good pheasant hunt stop by Hatcher's Game Preserve.

The finished product.

Phelps Wins 8th Gold and Gives Me a Sermon

I have been following the story of Michael Phelps who they claim is the greatest Olympian of all time. He not only has 14 gold medals, but surpassed Mark Spitz's record of 7 golds at an Olympic Games. No other Olympian has ever done what Phelps just has done. Not only did he win 8 golds, but he set new world records in each category and Olympic records in the process. One thing is very certain he is good, but he could never have achieved this without the help of some great athletes that helped him gain gold in at least 3 of the events. It was through the help of other athletes and names you will forget that helped him be so successful.

In life there are many who help others become successful and there is no mention of their names. There are many times that in the church the same phenomenon occurs. If everyone can stay focused on the end goal and strive for the kingdom without worrying whether or not some else gets credit or recognition over them self then the work will be the most successful. However when man starts to look at others and begrudge potential for praise or success and pulls back, then the end result is rendered not as effective. The key here is lack of self and more of team effort. We may not get everything the way we wanted it, someone may get praised when they could not have been successful without us, or a whole litany of other scenarios. We need to instead take hold of the "Fruits of the Spirit"(love, joy, peace, patience, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control) and be happy for them. We are not running individual races in our Christian walk, we are a team.

Noise at Night

I am in my study and I keep hearing much roaring around my windows. Simon and Garfunkle certainly did not use our home for the inspiration of their song "Sound of Silence". When will those tanks on those noise machine ever run out of gas? I guess never while Mama and Papa Gurnee keep sending dollars to the boys. Thanks Mom and Dad! I will add a post about my temporary brake design that I built.

Fond Memories

Dad just emailed some memories from about 25 years ago. This is what one of my go carts looked like. This is just one of many that he built. Itwould do about 20 mph. It had a little transmission with 3 forward gears and 1 reverse. In 3rd it was so fast that it would ride wheelies at the take off.

Dad used the rear tires were off an old walk behind tractor.

My jeep. Wow what memories it brought back.

The New Entryway into the Sanctuary

Cutting the first hole in the wall.

Hoping to find some buried gold in the walls.
Notching the 8x8 beams.

Father and son conferring.

Vincent earning go-cart riding time.

Fitting the header in.



Blaine Cosner was my cut man.


Cutting out the old support beam.

The new opening. In the back of the photo you can see support studs. They are holding the trusses up in the outer addition until the third header is built.

Everyone is excited about the changes that are happening. It will make our sanctuary much more efficient. The seating capacity will be greater by having the pews running lengthwise. It was a big change that only a couple did not like. The rest are very happy at the changes. When dealing with building programs you always run into the area of not being able to please everyone. So far with only minor loss in 3 1/2 years our building program has run very smoothly.

I am just getting nervous when we get to the part of choosing the chandeliers. We may have a church split and people will take their money and leave if we don't choose what kind they want. After all...where are we going to put it and who is going to play it? LOL. I guess most will understand the attempted humor in the chandelier joke.

Our New Doors Installed

Thanks to Tom Rodgers who was there and assisting the installers for the great pictures.

A real cool view of the new look of the Keepville Church.