IHC Wednesday Night

It was good to see the Calhouns. They had to leave Wednesday night and head back home. Laurel, Pam and Liz Calhoun

With the great Calhouna himself. The picture is a little blurry...maybe after the photographer uses her dad's camera more she will get used to the timing sequence.

Heading to IHC

We were not able to leave any earlier than Wednesday noon because of Vincent's testing at school. We set some records: traveling 5 hours with no rest stops, and also not eating from before noon till about 11:00. The kids were troopers. We ordered a Pizza when we got in the room that night.

We stayed at the Super 8 motel off of Dreyden Road. I will only say that it was the worst motel experience that we have encountered. We did not do any research just took a friends advice. We payed way more than we had to and could have stayed cheaper at a cleaner place. Live and learn. Needless to say they will be getting those no self address no postage needed postcards that let us rate our stay. I guess I will add the floor was not swept the place was dirty, the A/C did not work, there was no iron or ironing board, no microwave, no coffee pot, no fridge and a few holes in the wall. The beds were the worst I have ever slept on (or should I say laid awake on.) At least I had a roof over my head. The motel was not so Super as the sign said.

Alaskan Snowfall Breaks Record

So much for Global Warming.....

Juneau's snowfall record for April 17 was buried under more than a half-foot of snow Thursday.

The National Weather Service recorded 7.5 inches of snow Thursday at its Juneau International Airport weather station. The record had been only 1.1 inches, received on April 17 in 1948.

The storm that started Wednesday night dropped a total of 10.5 inches at the airport, 12.5 inches at the service's Juneau office on Mendenhall Loop Road, and 9 inches downtown.

Early Thursday morning, 10 inches of new snow was reported at the base of Eaglecrest Ski Area, which is closed for the season.

Juneau has seen double the average amount of precipitation so far this month, according to meteorologist Brian Bezenek. Through Thursday morning, 3.39 inches of precipitation had fallen in April, and the historical average is an inch and a half. Temperatures also have been cooler than average, Bezenek said.

Dry weather was predicted through this weekend and potentially into next week. A high pressure system centered south of Kodiak Island is expected to dominate the weather, but a marine stratus layer could build and create partly to mostly cloudy skies by early next week. Precipitation is not forecast, however, until possibly next weekend, Bezenek said.

While he called this week's storm "a little odd" for this time of year, Bezenek said such weather is not that unusual during springtime in Juneau. In 1963, for example, a storm dropped nearly 40 inches of snow at the airport during the first few days of April.

The service's long-range forecasts show slightly below normal temperatures through May and June, with normal precipitation. Spring is typically the driest time of year in Southeast Alaska.

IHC Live

http://www.ihconvention.com/

Another Course Done, Another Begun

I finished up Curriculum Development and Design and started Individual Assessment for Student Performance. They seem to get harder each time. I am still enjoying the studying. I guess we will see how I feel in another 6 months. I am halfway through the Masters of Education program through Indiana Wesleyan University.

Samsung Flipshot

Another two years had rolled by and it was time to update our cellphones. I was looking for a phone with a good camera. I ended up with a Samsung Flipshot with a 3.0 mega pixel camera and bluetooth technology. Thanks to Kyle at the Verizon store just off Interchange Road near the Millcreek Mall in Erie, PA. We both left we new phones and hands free blue tooth gadgets. I guess Pennsylvania is going hands free soon.

• Built-in 3.0-megapixel resolution camera with Flash to help capture the picture in low light, Auto-Focus to ensure sharp photos, and camcorder functionality to capture life's more active moments
• VCAST Video service to download and view video on this multimedia capable phone, and VCAST Music capable to download and play music, ringtones and more.
• Supports the following Bluetooth profiles fore handsfree functionality: mono headset, stereo headset, handsfree, serial port, dial-up networking, object push for vCard only, phonebook access, basic image (for pictures only) and basic print (for pictures only).
• MicroSD external memory port to store pictures, videos, sounds and music.
• Integrated with Verizon Wireless' VCAST Video, and Music service to catch the latest music videos and listen to and download songs.
• Optional Location Based Services such as VZ Navigator

Vincent Has a Question

In Bible study Sunday night we were on the 5th week of the study of the book of Jeremiah. We had covered all kinds of interesting background material and I had made up booklets so they could follow along. Towards the end I asked if anyone had any questions.

Vincent raised his hand.

"Yes?" I said waiting for some question on the JEDP documentary hypothesis or something.

But my little 6 year old boy replied very seriously "When is church going to be over?"

Everyone was in stitches!

My Love Story

I am sharing this with you by request.....I wrote it and read it at my wife's over the hill birthday party on April 11, 2008.

MY LOVE STORY

It all started long before it happened..... William Blair, President of Allegheny Wesleyan College and his wife Phyllis were in a very near death automobile accident. I guess hitting a semi head on would make that possible. I was nowhere even close. I was working as a Fire-liner out in the Bitter Root Mountains of Montana and in the St. Joe National Forest of Idaho. I remember hearing the bad news one night while visiting with some friends in Missoula, Montana. At first they weren't sure the Blairs were going to make it, but as time has told they are both alive and well (maybe with a few more aches and pains that might not have had otherwise).
When I arrived back from my summer of adventure in the west, I remember walking into the cafeteria at school and hearing Pop Stiles the Dean of Students announce they needed someone to be a chauffeur for the President. The doctor had ordered that he not drive for quite some time. So for the next several months I drove Bill everywhere: back and forth to the campus, to town, to the doctor, to see his wife who was still in the hospital down near Pittsburgh and any other place he needed to go. He might not feel the same way after I have been in the family for 14 years, but at the time he thought I was a pretty nice guy. It seemed like that over time so many simple things enhanced our relationship. I worked on his vehicles replacing a bumper, doing body work, fixing A/C units, oil changes, starters, brakes and the list goes on.
I will never forget the day that Pop Stiles came into my dorm room and wondered what on earth I had in my room that weighed so much that it was causing the ceiling in the room down below to crack. To save space in my small room, I had set up a bunk bed, but had kept the lower mattress out. I took an old bed cover and used it for a curtain, so that whatever was under the top bunk was out of sight. It held an incredible amount of treasures: My 2 Craftsmen cabinets full of tools, hydraulic jacks, car jacks, and multitude of other junk. I guess the floor in that old house was never made to hold that much.

When Pop pulled the curtain back he said in a gruff voice "You had better get this junk out of here immediately". I had no clue where I could put it all. “Where” wasn't his problem, it was mine. My car trunk wouldn't hold everything and so I was up a creek with out a paddle.

I am not totally sure how it got brought up but somehow I whined to the President. When hearing I couldn't have a tool box in the dorm he snorted" that is absurd" you can bring your tool box up and keep it in my garage. WOW! In the president’s garage…. nicely painted floors, hot and cold water spigots, heat in the winter, air conditioning in the summer, and it had two bays. What more can you ask for? To put the cherry on top there was even a fridge down there with cold pop in it. He told me to bring my tool box up after prayer meeting that night.

This was going to be perfect! I had a job to do the next day and that would work out just fine. He didn't even care if I worked on some cars. Boy he sure didn't have a clue what this all involved. Quite some time later he told that me that he thought my tool box was just a little one like he had sitting on his bench. I should have easily caught on that he didn't quite realize what I had meant when I said I was bringing my toolbox. I backed the school pickup up to his garage and rang the door bell, he answered the door and told me I could bring it right in. The look on his face was priceless when I told him that it would be easier to do with the garage door up. That look on his face should have been a very strong clue that there had been a serious misunderstanding.

Being young and dumb I guess I thought he was shocked that I had so many tools, instead of being surprised at how much was going into his nice garage. Throughout the next couple of years having my tools in his garage benefited the both of us. I worked on his cars, worked on mine and I worked on quite a few other ones also.

Then there was the day I had Jim Pinkerton’s car up on jack stands. I had the gas tank down, and I was changing fuel pumps. The garage doors were wide open and the wind was blowing out of the east. Mrs. Blair opened the door going into the house and came out to where I was working.

She sniffed the air a few times and said "I smell gas. Do you?"

"Oh yeah! I am just changing a fuel pump"

I didn't realize that there presidential palace had become a gas chamber. The east wind had blown every vapor right into the garage, under their door, up the stairs and ...into every room. I know this is only scratching the surface of the things that they put up with. I suppose I could name many other ones like the night I took their granddaughter frog gigging and at midnight used her kitchen to prepare a feast. I realize now how much she put up with that night while I was cutting up frogs legs and frying them in her clean kitchen. I was making a mess of her house.

Then it was the gun issue. No fire-arms in the dorm. I was told to get my arsenal out of the dorm. Not a problem at all, just take it to the President. I explained to him about not being able to have guns in the dorm and he already knew about the rule and offered for me to bring my "gun" up and leave it on his gun rack. After the tool box misunderstanding I didn't want to say anything till I showed up at his door with all 15 of them. I think I did mention that I had my own "gun racks" The surprise was about the same.

"Whose are all these?"

"Oh these..there mine!"

So the wall in the garage was lined with guns... floor to the ceiling. Two rows of them and the funny thing, the barrels happened to be pointing right at the door way. I remember the first couple of times Mrs. Blair would step into the garage she would peek pass the door way see the barrels pointed her way and quickly step through the “line of fire". I assured her most of them were unloaded.

One day while driving Mrs. Blair to get her car at Uncle Joe’s Garage in Alliance, we had an interesting conversation about my love life. I had just fixed her A/C system in her little Pontiac. The high pressure line blew and I installed a hydraulic hose repair and it was getting recharged. As we road along I complained that I had picked through the basket and had not found what I wanted. I was coming to the end of my junior year in college with no prospective helpmate in sight.

The Blair’s had it all figured out for me, only I didn't know it. The little granddaughter that I had taken frog hunting had an older sister. That older sister had a name – Julia. The Blair’s were scheming away. The only problem was it started to backfire on them. They kept telling their Granddaughter all about this really nice guy that attended college (I wonder if they still feel the same way.) Julia was dating a fellow that the family wasn't so sure that about. So everything that he did was compared to me. "Well Byron did this or that", or whatever else they thought of. Thus I became the hated "Mr. Perfect". This was something I never knew till after we were engaged. In the attempt to try to help us out they were driving a wedge. I am totally unaware of the whole situation, and she is totally tired of hearing about me.

Then one day while helping the president at his house, I casually was bemoaning my status as Dean of Men, Supervisor of Grounds and Vehicle Maintenance, Class President, Student Council Vice President... and yet I didn't have a perspective a wife in sight! I mentioned about the girls who thought they were good-looking and he started talking about his granddaughter who didn't think she was.

"Do you have a picture?"

President Blair became a magician and one was produced in a flash. I commented that Julie didn't have anything to worry about for sure! He let me know she was going to be breaking up with her boyfriend, but to keep that under my hat. Who would I have told? Who even knew her? I certainly would safe guard my highly classified secret. I wanted to have the first crack at this beauty queen! It seemed that my whole life was wracked with poor timing. I had to have one.

Then it happened faster then the time I am taking to tell it, the Blairs wondered if I liked pizza? That question seemed like it would have an obvious answer for any young man in college. I was to stop over for some pizza for he and his wife would never be able to eat it all, and then he added…

"Oh by the way, you can meet our granddaughter she will be here visiting us."

My heart stopped. I lost my breath. Did I need a haircut? Did I need to do laundry? A myriad of questions came running into my mind.

I couldn't sleep that night...I couldn't eat either. I was wondering what she would be like. Maybe just another dead end street or perhaps the light at the end of my tunnel!!

That next evening I cleaned up after work and jumped on my motorcycle (girls love motorcycles!) and arrived early for my pizza and "fellowship". The main thought running through my mind was “Was she still dating?” I arrived and sat down on a chair by Mr. Blair around the patio table. I could feel the pulse in my neck jumping and all the while I was trying to act calm and nonchalant. I was starved that night as most young men are at the age of 21. Mrs. Blair came out with that little "$5.00" Little Caesar’s Pizza. I know I could have eaten the whole thing myself. Maybe I should have brought some extra food along that night.

Then the door opened and she stepped out….my heart stopped and for a moment I was looking for a phone to dial 911 so the paramedics could come and get it restarted! She never even looked my way and after she sat down we were introduced..."this is Byron....and this is our granddaughter Julie" She glanced my way and looked away real quick. She definitely did not act interested in a college senior when she is just a high school senior. Then again maybe she would.

We had not even finished a slice of pizza each and Mrs. Blair decided she had dishes to do. Now this was odd, we were eating out of a cardboard box and had Styrofoam plates and napkins and her house was always spic and span. As soon as you would set a cup down she would wash it and put it away even if you were planning on using it again in the next day or so. I remember the phone ringing and it sounded as if it was right by the window screen and soon “Bill a phone call for you.” Little did I realize that she had gone in and called Kathy (Julia’s mother) and let her know we were set at the table eating. She hung up and called back to talk to her dad.
There I was across the table from this gorgeous young lady that was as shy as a mouse. We made small talk about her college endeavors at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. I was impressed. She would have a whole year of college done by the time she graduated high school. After about an hour of very hard conversation with the girl that unbeknownst to me hated my gut, I decided I had better leave and get some other things done.
I had just bought a new car and had a lot of different things I wanted to do to it. I made plans to spend much of Saturday working on it. I had the transmission to flush, oil to change breaks to check, air and gas filters to replace and give it a good going over. I had bought the car off of Dan Glick who was heading to the Ukraine as a missionary. That next morning I was up in the Blair’s garage and worked all morning. I was hoping to get a glimpse of her so that I could talk to her again. It seemed like she would never make an appearance. I think I have the record for the Guinness Book of World Records of the longest transmission filter and fluid change. While under the car I did everything I could like over greased every tierod, ball joint and whatever else I could find that might need a little grease. I had finished putting all the bolts back in the transmission pan when the door to the garage opened and she wandered out.
I casually said “Hello” and “Hello” she replied…and then I got right down to business.
“How is the old Zach man doing?” Zach was the other guy she had been dating.
Her reply was music to my ear’s. “We are not exactly dating anymore.”
The ringing in my ears was due partly to the fact that I had tried getting out from under the car so fast I hit my head on something. I came out with a spot of grease on my forehead.
“You aren’t dating anymore?” I excitedly asked.
She looked at my fore head and motioned that something might be there. I used a rag and smeared it more… She continued to look perplexed. “No we broke up yesterday.” I am sure she was somewhat puzzled by my excitement. We spent the rest of the afternoon washing our cars and her grandparent’s car. We also hold the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest carwash.
That was how we met and over the 4th of July I asked for her hand in courtship and that ship put up all it sails and headed full steam ahead. October 9th just 3 months later I asked her to marry me and it has been a wonderful life since. So from the day I met her June 10th 1994 to the day we married June 10th 1995 was one year. I am so glad I had lots of guns and tool boxes in my dorm room!!!

There is only one way!

Tim Calhoun posted a link on this post about The Church of Oprah. She definitely is confused about the Bible. She misunderstands about a jealous God and many other things. There is only one way through which we find salvation - through God's son's death on the cross. The sad thing she is influencing millions.

A Saw Designed with Tom Rodgers in Mind

Jerry the Dog....

...loves retrieving balls! I need one of these to wear out my kids so they will take naps and go to bed early at night.

The Suprising Moment

My dear wife was surprised! I was able to plan this under her nose with out her finding out. Here is the moment of truth. My plan was to have the family show up at 6:00 and the guests were to arrive at 6:30. We had a great evening. There was over 70 that showed up. I read our love story that I had written last year and to Kenton great surprise, he got his dirtbike.

Obama Gets it Right

Obama Urges Parental Responsibility
By JIM KUHNHENN

GARY, Ind. (AP) - The standard Barack Obama venue lately has been high schools. Truman High School, Theodore Roosevelt High School, Jefferson High School. The Democratic presidential candidate has been pitching an audience-pleasing message of economic populism to crowds of a few thousand packed into each gymnasium. But he gets some of his loudest applause when he segues to education - and a bit of a lecture to mothers and fathers on how to be parents.
Sure, there is the usual critique of current government policies. But the cheering peaks with a dose of tough talk.

"Parents if you don't parent, we can't improve our schools," he said. "You've got to parent. You've got to turn off the television set in your house once in a while, you've got to put the video game away once in a while."

"You should have a curfew in your house so your children aren't out in the streets all night. You should meet with the teacher and find out what the homework is and help that child with the homework. And if you don't know how to do the homework, don't be embarrassed, find someone to help you."

"Fathers, be fathers," he added. "Be a part of your child's life. Be a part of your child's life and try to make them proud.

"And the last thing is, if your child is misbehaving at school don't curse out the teacher. You know who you are. It's not the teacher's fault that your child is misbehaving. That's some home training."

The crowd reacted raucously and Obama laughed. "You know what I say is true, though. Don't blame the teachers, and the government and the schools if you're not doing your job."

Obama's self-help message has a broader political appeal, blending a socially conservative solution with his more liberal view that government can and should do more to improve the lot of Americans. And the appeal to fathers is rooted in his own experience, a doting father himself who was raised by his mother and a grandmother after his father left the family when he was 2.

For Obama - and for voters - his race has a double edge. In the speech on race on March 18, he noted that he has been variously deemed "too black" or "not black enough." In primary after primary, he wins the vast share of the black vote. Yet his race also represents a transitional, even historic, moment for the country and the presidential contest so far proves he has defied simple racial pigeonholing.

So while Obama may be the politician with the best credentials to speak candidly and admonish the black community, he also has worked vigorously to present himself as the presidential candidate who happens to be black rather than the black candidate.
Obama can display a comfortable ease with an audience and can riff off a crowd, no matter the skin hue. But these freelance exchanges are all the more noticeable when he is speaking to blacks - and he gets away with stereotypes that might cause offense coming from another candidate.

Asked Thursday by a student in Gary to discuss the shrinking value of the dollar, Obama said it was a symptom of a trade imbalance and a burgeoning debt. "We've been borrowing money like nobody's business from China," he said. "We're like that cousin who always comes and never seems to have a job. He's out there buying new rims on his car, but can't pay the rent."

In white suburban schools in Pennsylvania and Indiana, he offers sobering words for college-bound students, whom he says on the one hand want affordable education but also expect colleges to provide a high quality of life. "You're going to have to be better consumers of higher education," he told one student in Malvern, Pa., who said she faced a $45,000 a year tuition. "When I was going to school, we knew the food was going to be bad. The gym didn't have all the state of the art Nautilus equipment."

In Lafayette, Ind., Thursday evening, he expanded, sounding much like a parent at the dinner table. "There are kids in China and India who are learning an awful lot of math and an awful lot of science with facilities that are a lot worse than the ones we have," he said. "And we have to keep that in mind when we're shopping for schools and encouraging school administrators to cut out the frills."

Party Pics

Here are the pics from my wife's surprise birthday party.

I Pulled It Off...

I gave myself a few gray hairs and some others a few as well, but I surprised her. There was 70+ people in attendance. More pictures to follow....it is getting late and I want to head to bed.

Viral Prevention

Here we were suited up and visiting in the hospital. The girls got a kick out of the gowns and latex gloves. I took the pic of the girls and they had to take one of me Kendra took the good blurry one and Alyssa took the bad blurry one. Alyssa wanted her pic that she took on the blog as well. I took them to the petstore at the mall so they could see the cute puppies.

Couldn't Resist....

...that is posting this funny way NOT to exercise!

Another Dumb Criminal

If you escape by way of garbage can don't be bragging that you did!

Click for my original post.

Hat tip to Tim Calhoun....

Escaped killer from Pennsylvania caught in California

GIRARD, Pa. - A killer who escaped from a Pennsylvania prison in a trash can was captured in California after boasting of an appearance on Fox's "America's Most Wanted," state police said Sunday.

Malcolm Kysor, 54, was arrested Saturday in a Bakersfield, Calif., park after someone notified police about the claim, police said.

"Basically, it's a citizen's tip. He was in a park and he started bragging," Trooper Donald Claypoole of the Girard barracks said.

Kysor was carried out in a truck hauling garbage from the medium-security State Correctional Institution at Albion, near Girard in northwestern Pennsylvania. He had been serving a life sentence since 1988 for an early 1980s slaying in Erie County.

An investigation found prison staff negligent, saying workers failed to conduct routine security measures such as thoroughly checking the trash can and truck. The prison's superintendent was removed and later retired.

Fellow inmate John Gromer was charged with conspiracy for allegedly helping Kysor. Authorities said Gromer told police he put a box and plastic bag over Kysor to help conceal him in the garbage can, then pushed it to the back of the truck.

According to a criminal complaint, Kysor told Gromer he had people waiting outside the prison to help him.

Kysor was being held without bond in California to await extradition proceedings, Claypoole said.

They now can pry his guns.....

.... from his cold dead fingers.

1923-2008

Charlton Heston

Turkey Season?

I received a call at school the other day. "Kenton just killed a turkey." My heart sank! A turkey? The season does not open till the first of May not the first of April.......the guns are all locked up....

When I got home the story unfolded....

Kenton and Tally had been out for a walk in the woods when Tally jumped a turkey and started to chase it. The turkey could not fly but it ran fast. Tally easily chased it out of the woods across the road and into our backyard. Tally was a little harder on the turkey than Kenton wanted, and so Kenton made a wise decision to put the turkey out of its misery. He was very disturbed that the turkey was dead and broke into sobs when I got home. He said he only killed it because I had taught him never to let an animal suffer. Quick and painless death is the goal. As the turkey lay flopping around from the dog getting its neck, he made the wise decision to not let it suffer.

My first doubt that Kenton had killed a game bird out of season was the fact that he was able to get so close to it. Second the fact that it could not fly. The final piece to the puzzle was the fact that it had white tipped feathers and lots of white throughout it.

The 21 lb turkey ended up being a tame turkey that had apparently gotten loose from someones pen. It is not a native Eastern wild turkey, but rather a Merriam's. I have a few more people to check, but it must have wandered at least a mile from where it was raised. It had a 5" beard and 1" spurs.

Boeing Successfully Flies Fuel Cell-Powered Airplane

http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2008/q2/080403a_nr.html
MADRID, Spain, April 03, 2008 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] announced today that it has, for the first time in aviation history, flown a manned airplane powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

The recent milestone is the work of an engineering team at Boeing Research & Technology Europe (BR&TE) in Madrid, with assistance from industry partners in Austria, France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

"Boeing is actively working to develop new technologies for environmentally progressive aerospace products," said Francisco Escarti, BR&TE's managing director. "We are proud of our pioneering work during the past five years on the Fuel Cell Demonstrator Airplane project. It is a tangible example of how we are exploring future leaps in environmental performance, as well as a credit to the talents and innovative spirit of our team."

A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that converts hydrogen directly into electricity and heat with none of the products of combustion such as carbon dioxide. Other than heat, water is its only exhaust.

A two-seat Dimona motor-glider with a 16.3 meter (53.5 foot) wingspan was used as the airframe. Built by Diamond Aircraft Industries of Austria, it was modified by BR&TE to include a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell/lithium-ion battery hybrid system to power an electric motor coupled to a conventional propeller.

Three test flights took place in February and March at the airfield in Ocaña, south of Madrid, operated by the Spanish company SENASA.

During the flights, the pilot of the experimental airplane climbed to an altitude of 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) above sea level using a combination of battery power and power generated by hydrogen fuel cells. Then, after reaching the cruise altitude and disconnecting the batteries, the pilot flew straight and level at a cruising speed of 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour) for approximately 20 minutes on power solely generated by the fuel cells.

According to Boeing researchers, PEM fuel cell technology potentially could power small manned and unmanned air vehicles. Over the longer term, solid oxide fuel cells could be applied to secondary power-generating systems, such as auxiliary power units for large commercial airplanes. Boeing does not envision that fuel cells will ever provide primary power for large passenger airplanes, but the company will continue to investigate their potential, as well as other sustainable alternative fuel and energy sources that improve environmental performance.

BR&TE, part of the Boeing Phantom Works advanced R&D unit, has worked closely with Boeing Commercial Airplanes and a network of partners since 2003 to design, assemble and fly the experimental craft.

I Amazed Myself...

I left the classroom today and heard deafening rock music blaring. I followed the sound to see where it was coming from. The noise led me to weight lifting room where 30 sweating and stinking young men were pumping iron. One senior was struggling to get a load back up and and I watched as his two spotters helped him get the bar back onto the rack. 245 lbs. The bar weighs 45lbs and there were 2 sets of 50's on it. I have not even tried to do such a thing for many years. (Maybe 10?)and so with much doubt and consternation I decided to try. I racked it twice. WOW! I amazed myself. I thought much computer work and studying was rendering me fat and useless. I think that I need to set a goal for 350lbs.

We Need Ronald Reagan Again

North Carolina, South Carolina To Become One State In 2018

Last Updated: 4/2/2008 2:51:03 AM
ROCK HILL, SC (UP) - South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and North Carolina Governor Mike Easley met Tuesday to discuss plans that would effectively join South Carolina with North Carolina into one state.

Sanford and Easley met at a Rock Hill McDonald's Tuesday, in order to work out an agreement between the states that would allow the Carolinas to share natural and financial resources, and establish a central government that could override federal mandate in some instances.

According to state officials, the new name of the double Sanford and Easley 11:35AM amid a swarm local press and kids screaming from the Ronald McDonald Playhouse Ballpit.

The Treaty stipulates that by 2018, North Carolina and South Carolina will have integrated into a single state. Graphic Designers everywhere are rushing to their computers to design a new American Flag that has only 49 stars. Jonathan Hughes, an illustrator from Washington agrees that this is a great opportunity to sport a new flag design.

Says Hughes, "You know, a lineup of 49 stars just looks uneven! I think if we arranged the stars to form the shape of an apple pie, it would really be patriotic. It would also make our enemies too hungry to want to attack us!"

Surprisingly, the newly formed state will not be named "Carolina" as most people expected. Instead, the name "South Virginia" narrowly defeated "North Georgia" in a dual-statewide referendum. "North North Florida" was a Distant Third.

The Dakotas were unavailable for questioning.

THE STORY HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE FIRST OF APRIL.

APRIL FOOLS!

What you might not know about your pastor’s wife…by Rick Lawrenson

This is another post from http://nagsheader.blogspot.com/

I’m blessed to have been a pastor in a most excellent church now for over 17 years. One of the reasons Gail and I have (she’s not a pastor, but she is my partner) have been here so long is that the church has never put any unreal expectations on her as my wife. She’s not up on a pedestal here, and if someone tried to put her there, she’d be the first and loudest protestor. She’s gifted as a servant, so she prefers to stay “behind the scenes”, although she doesn’t have to be asked to roll up her sleeves and do whatever needs to be done.But being a pastor’s wife has its own levels of stress and trial. Yesterday I wrote about some of the burdens shepherds face as they care for and lead a congregation. But what about his spouse? Here are some things to consider:
His was a calling from God. Her's was more likely a calling to him. Becoming a pastor might have been the desire of his heart, but chances are she would have preferred something a bit more normal. However, because she is his better half, she is a pastor’s wife. It might not have been her first choice in life, but it’s where God has placed her.

Her husband is in demand by lots of people, both in the community and in the church. It’s a fact of life that she has to share him with others much more so than husbands with other occupations. He's on call 24/7. Call him at home IF absolutely necessary. Otherwise, leave a message on his office phone. That also means that her children have to share him as well, and that’s not easy on a mother.

She better be good at biting her tongue, especially when others are criticizing her husband. It’s not easy seeing the one you love being attacked, especially by those who don’t know all the details or see the big picture that he sees and often can’t share publicly.
He often can’t share things with her. He’d like to, but sometimes he has to keep things within, not only to protect those he ministers to, but more often to protect her. And no marriage likes there to be secrets.

If he’s not Superman she’s not Wonder Woman. Yet, she’s expected to be a housewife, a mother, and too often to be at every church activity looking like she stepped off the pages of a fashion magazine and with a perpetual smile.

Guess what? She’s got her own life, too! So if you drop by the house, don’t be surprised if it looks “lived in”. And if you need to drop by, do her the favor of calling first! (That especially goes for those of you whose pastor lives in a parsonage. That’s their home, not yours.) And nobody wants to live in a fish bowl. Nor should they.

She struggles with the same life issues that face every woman in every stage of life. Often the biggest fear she has is for her husband’s job security and their family finances. (Churches don’t have the best reputations in those regards.) And because she’s the pastor’s wife doesn’t mean she has all the answers, either.

Just like you, she’s got a few special friends. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t like you if you’re not one of them. It means she’s normal. Be glad for that. It’s the abnormal ones that are scary. Chances are she has moved a lot during their marriage and ministry. It’s not easy saying goodbye to friends, so realize she might be afraid to build deep friendships just because of the heartbreak that comes when a move is necessary.

Let her be free to be who God created her to be. Let her first ministry be to her husband and family. Respect her time and her space. Just like you, her first priority in life is not the church.
Pray for her. Encourage her. Do something unexpected to bless her. Remember that behind a every good pastor is an amazing and strong spouse who is his greatest support.

-Rick Lawrenson

Sir Loin It Is

Sir Loin

Thanks to Janice Seely we now have a name for the next family pet. Sounds like a pretty tasty name to me. We may even call him "Tip" for a nickname.

President Bush Gets Booed...

... at the opening game for the opening game of the Washington Nationals, but he can throw a baseball! Check out his pitch.