I’m not sure how this will work, but we have set out to try something new. We’ve put together a podcast. It is our intention to try to do this twice a month. That’s agressive we know, but you have to start somewhere.
Without any more introduction here it is:
If you have any thoughts about our efforts, leave a comment. And we want to have lots of questions to talk about, so send them in the comments too. If we can find ones that will spark discussions, we’ll try to work them in! No guarantees…
We had a great trip to Kansas. Thanks to Jill’s portable DVD player the kids were relatively fight free (we have to get us one of those). Usually we stay in a hotel room when we go and do a Biblical peacemaking weekend. But this time we were going outside of our conference so it was more like a visit with friends where we just happened to be sharing instead of the other way around. So we broke our rule and stayed with the Johnston’s. They have a great place with lots of land, a trail to walk, and a dog named Zoe – which was a little bit of a challenge for our family’s canine neuroses.
Joshua got a picture of us all – this was just as we were leaving.
The kids had fun – here are the boys.
And the girls had fun too, due in part to the boys being out of their hair. (Caleb is the master of the frames that come with the camera…)
Joshua got to ride bikes around. The boys smashed up lego cars. Anything built to be broken is a genius toy idea! The girls got to talk and hang out together.
Now Nathan did get sick on Sabbath morning. This caused Laura to have to stay home for Sabbath School and church, but he made a quick recovery after a nap and keeping down some crackers. So they joined us up at the church in the afternoon. In the evening there was a talent share as a church social. Yes, we have video, but for the sake of people we don’t even know – we won’t make them famous. It was fun.
We are headed off today for another weekend of teaching Biblical peacemaking principles. This time we are traveling outside of our usual territory of Iowa and Missouri. We’re going to Kansas. It will be about 6.5 hours to get there. But the kids have become veteran travelers. With all the electronic crutches available today, it’s not that hard really. I remember when having a Mattel electronic Football game with red LED’s that lit up as you mashed the buttons with three rows to choose from as you blipped your way across the little screen made for hours of mind numbed entertainment. That’s nothing compared to today!
Anyway, we will be seeing our old friends, Tim and Linda Johnston, who used to attend church with us before they moved away. They saw us at camp meeting last summer and Tim’s brother Tom attended the peacemaking sessions we had there. Tim was convinced that his church could benefit from learning these things and was diligent in making sure that we got scheduled to come out there. His persistence paid off and we are on our way.
It’s rainy this morning and I understand that the weather is pretty snowy out on the great plains – so this could be an interesting trip. We’ll update you when we get back.
Not much to say here – just look at these photos of a hawk that sat looking around our back yard. I think he was looking for some food. Maybe he was tracking that huge snake I almost ran over with the lawn mower earlier in the summer (sorry, no pictures of that thing!).
Laura took the kids to the pumpkin patch for a day of frivolity and to burn of the last of that summer energy. Here are a few pictures to help you to get a sense of what happened.
Nathan immediately took to the wheel – he likes to be the captain of his own vessel. Even if that wheel is bigger than he is.
Hannah helped Nathan to go down the zip line. With big sister holding on it wasn’t exactly zippy, but that’s the way he liked it.
Just to give you some perspective on how big everyone is getting – they lined up against the measuring rod. Joshua has just passed 5 feet and Hannah is just past 5 1/2 feet tall. Caleb is at 4 1/4, but I think he’s getting ready to sprout up himself.
Now a day in the pumpkin patch wouldn’t be complete without a hay ride on the back of a flat bed truck. Laura and the kids relax with some of their friends as they rumble along through the fields of harvest.
About 5 hours of fun for a fist full of dollars – you can’t hardly beat it these days. But the end of the day arrived and they all piled in the van and came and picked me up from work. I had my car in for it’s bi-annual inspection (it passed) so when they got me Nathan and Caleb were zonked out and the older kids looked a little worn as well.
In the evening, Joshua went with me to the evangelistic meetings at church where I interpreted for one of our deaf members and we learned about “Memory Loss and Monkey Business.” Our friend Brian did a good job presenting. Now everyone is cleaned up and winding down for bed. I think I’ll head that way too. G’night.
A few weeks ago, right after the political conventions were over, we got a call from our FairTax friends asking us to attend the McCain / Palin rally in St. Charles. So Joshua and I agreed. It’s not often you get to go to these things.
We met up with our group and they had T-shirts and hats for us to wear. We also had a big FairTax sign but the security people said we couldn’t bring it in. So we had to take it back to the car. In other words – we waited through this line TWICE!
See the line going back behind the trees? That was about 1/2 way back to the cars!
The guys behind us were talking politics the whole time (go figure). The ladies in front of us were teachers and they were glad to see a young person coming to learn about how our leaders are selected. They took this nice picture for us.
When we finally got in to the baseball park, we found a tent where the local talk radio guys were interviewing our former senator Jim Talent.
We made our way out onto the ball field. We stood out there for a total of three hours. Basically where that camera stand is located in front of us is the pitcher’s mound.
The cameraman is pointed over to where the “Straight Talk Express” pulled right up. Here’s what it looked like from our vantage point.
Mike Huckabee (a big supporter of the FairTax) helped warm up the crowd.
Then Sarah got to speak and the crowd just loved her. This was her first stop after the convention and they weren’t really ready for the 23,000 or so that came out.
We had a great time. It is a very close race. In most states it is now too late to register, but if you are registered – be sure to do your part and vote. We are preparing our minds for the possibility of four years of slouching towards socialism. It’s just that close. But they say that Democrats win polls and Republicans win elections. We’ll see this time.
Post Script: If you are of a different political persuasion and are not fond of Mrs. Palin, we’re entitled to our own viewpoint. I’d love to talk about it some time. I have friends of all political stripes – and we’re still friends. But please be considerate of our kids and hold your nose and vote for McCain. Back to normal family business in the next post.
We’re half way through August and nothing is happening at The Kelsey’s. That is mostly my fault. There have been plenty of pictures taken, and a fair amount of video. The problem in the process is that dad’s not getting things published out to everyone. Too much on his plate? You could say so.
I started a new contract where I’m not just doing development, but I also have some management responsibilities. This is a bit of a twist for me. I’m still not sure what to think about it. My church responsibilities haven’t lessened. I still have a bit of Peacemaker paperwork to do. And we have started working on peacemaking across Iowa and Missouri.
But it is August, and August means… The Thirty Day Challenge ! This is a free education on Internet Marketing. I participated last year and learned a ton of stuff. But it is a major time vacuum. The month is about half over, but the material will remain for people who are interested, indefinitely.
If you want to see a little more what we’ve been up to – here a web site I am trying for the thirty day challenge – It’s called I hate grass care . I’m taking my disdain for my lawn to a whole new level. I talk about how to manage your grass care . And I also show you some handy things you can buy to help you with your grass care. The idea being that if somebody buys what I’m promoting, I earn a commission.
My I Hate Grass Care site has a video that Joshua helped me with. The kids have been helping where they can. I have another site that I’m trying to work on too, but it hasn’t progressed as far – it’s Homeschool Software , but I’m having technical difficulties with that one. Anyway, that’s keeping me pretty busy.
We’ve got more pictures and video from the church picnic, from vacation bible school, and from swimming lessons. And a little more from the thirty day challenge. Stay tuned, there’s plenty more to come.
So much is happening I’ve been chasing my tail. Let me bring you up to speed on some of the things that have been going on around our place.
VBS Has Been Over for a Couple Weeks
We have video, we have pictures, I even made a slide show with music and showed it at church. But when I tried to upload it, it got rejected! It turns out they felt the music might be copyrighted. So I’m in the process of getting permission to use those songs! After that, I’ll post it and you can see it.
We Are Learning to Swim
We are half way through our swimming lessons at the YMCA. We have a great teacher and she agreed to be a part of our official "swimmer’s photo." Check it out.
She’s been a very good sport, and the kids are actually learning to swim!!
Things are very hectic around the Kelsey homestead. We are right in VBS week. But before the VBS pictures get rolling, I wanted to post a few snapshots from the church picnic last Sunday. I took the kids with me so Laura could concentrate at the church getting VBS decorations set up. So let’s take a look.
The Sack Race (Episode 1)
A picnic isn’t a picnic without some fun and games. Here are some pictures of the sack race. Here’s Nathan’s heat.
Joshua and Caleb were in the same heat, the age spread just barely included them both.
Hannah had her turn too.
There was also volley ball. I love that particular sand pit. I actually played volley ball there the day after I was baptized, 18 years ago. On this day, I had too much to eat and was exhausted from one run in the sack race. Times, how they change. Here’s a picture of some church friends, I just like the ball in the air.
Up some stairs from the pavilion was the baseball diamond where Joshua spent most of his day.
Nathan went sliding for pretty much 5 hours straight. He came over and had a few bites for lunch. But every once in a while he’d sneak off up the stairs.
Later in the afternoon he must’ve worked up a thirst. He got some water and then discovered the watermelon. You can see how juicy it was – on his shirt.
Afterwards we stopped by VBS preparations
The first night was last night and there were 33 participants – if you included the teen helpers, which we do! That doesn’t include all the adult staff and observers, which would add another 15 at least. Here’s a sneak peek of the room.
Stay tuned, we may have some sack race video. I missed recording the 3-legged race, the water balloon toss, and many other activities. And there will surely be some more VBS excitement. If you haven’t considered it, maybe you could sign up for our RSS feed. That’s the big orange button over on the right side. And there’s a video I did a while back explaining how to do it. If you do, our little counter in blue will go up! Yippee!
It’s been one week since I had my contract terminated prematurely. To say I was fired has too much emotional baggage and it makes you think its worse that it really is. My contract was expected to go through the end of August and it ended on June 24th.
So last week had a few surprises. On Tuesday, the job ended. Then during the week we found out that the people that were going to buy our old house (anybody want it?) couldn’t get their financing. They were supposed to close on June 30th. That didn’t happen. So the money crunch is still on in more ways than one.
Then on Thursday, I was getting ready to go to our Peacemaking weekend in Ottumwa, and I was mowing the lawn. Well I did something to my lawn mower and broke it. So I borrowed our neighbor down the street’s mower to finish – and broke theirs too!
We did have a good weekend, and I think we were able to bring some fresh insights about conflict to the people we met. The hard part is all in the application.
Just a little blurb to keep you up to speed (that’s what blogs are all about, right?).
