Steve & Kathy Hight

2009-02-23T20:39:00.005-05:00

Happy Birthday!!

Last Friday we drove to Lafayette to surprise our grandchildren. Two of them, Steven (Feb. 22) and Ashlee (Feb. 23) were to have birthdays; and mine was that same Friday.

Michelle had them out to Subway for supper, so we used our key and slipped into the house, keeping all the lights off. I got my camera ready to take a picture as they came in the door, but, as you can see, I didn't position myself very well. My dear wife's arm sort of blocked the view.

However, when I enlarged the photo on the camera screen and focused on Kelcee (left), it was obvious that we had caught her by surprise! Indeed, later I asked her, "Did we surprise you or scare you?" She looked at me with her serious eyes and very deliberately said, "You scared me!."

The scare didn't last too long, though, and the next day Ashlee (left) and Kelcee shared a blanket with Grandma as they waited for birthday gifts to be produced.

Steven, wearing a Cubs shirt that he got for Christmas, was rather expansive as he showed us the 2-way radio set he got for his birthday -- so expansive that the radios got clear out of the picture. He's more important than they are, though, and one has to say that he's definitely a bundle of energy. If I just had a third of what he has . . . . . . .

Happy birthday, Steven and Ashlee.

2009-02-08T21:40:00.002-05:00

Valentine's Day

Unfortunately, I have to be in the Dominican Republic on February 14. I did leave my wife a little something to keep her reminded of my love, though: A card a day from Monday through Saturday, a box of Girl Scout Samoa cookies, and a bear to hold them all.

Happy Valentine's Day to my sweetheart! Love ya!

2009-02-07T20:12:00.003-05:00

Kathy's Birthday

Yes, I know it's been awhile since I blogged; since Christmas, in fact. There's just been too much going on, what with racquetball, snow, a trip to Florida, busy-ness at EFM, and all that stuff.

What better way to break back into blogging than showing you the flower arrangement I gave my dear wife for her birthday on February 3. A pretty spring variety arrangement that has some of her favorite colors (lavender and purple and related hues) in it.

Happy Birthday, Love!!!

2008-12-24T12:38:00.004-05:00

Special Christmas Gift!

My granddaughter, Ashlee Krick, had a special project in school just before Christmas. She and the other students decorated special Christmas sacks, colored a pasteboard Nativity scene (which is also a stand or holder), and then put a candy cane on the Nativity scene.

When the teacher asked each student who he or she wanted to give his special Christmas gift to, Ashlee told her she wanted it for her grandpa!

Here I am with Ashlee and her specially decorated Christmas bag.
(Click on the photo for a larger view.)

Thank you, Ash, for giving me something extra special for Christmas. I love you!

2008-12-13T16:14:00.010-05:00

Snowmen appear at FMC youth Christmas gathering

We had a great time with the young people of Faith Mission Church and Stone City Christian Academy at the youth Christmas get-together on Friday night, December 12. There's nothing like being with young people to help one keep young at heart (and tired in body).

Some long-suffering wives put up with us guys at the party last night, such as my wife, Kathy (pictured here), Marci Webb, and Alice Golden. Well, actually it was Alice who put together the snowman feature that follows. Tamara Crosley wisely stayed home and out of danger's way.
Alice divided the young people into teams. She gave each team three rolls of toilet paper, a scarf, a hat, a sheet of construction paper, and some tape. From these materials, and with four of us fellows serving as mannequins to be "dressed," each team was to fashion a snowman. The results, as you can see here, were hilarious.

In alphabetical order, so as not to favor one snowman over another, we have:

David CrosleyTim GoldenSteve Hight

Anthony Webb

Left to right:
Anthony Webb, Tim Golden, Steve Hight, David Crosley

Here's the team that fixed me up so well, even putting my glasses on outside my face so that I could see -- well, at least halfway, since I could only peer out of one eye.As you might imagine, there was a lot of melted snowman material in the middle of the floor when we were finished. It didn't stain the carpet, though.

You must go on to the following post to see David Crosley lose at musical chairs!

2008-12-12T23:47:00.004-05:00

David Crosley loses musical chairs game in last round
Loss is second in two years for self-avowed musical chairs champ

Bedford, IN -- December 12, 2008

In dramatic fashion, David Crosley, who claims to be a musical chairs champion, lost in the final round on Friday evening at the Faith Mission Church young people's Christmas get-together. Crosley, who earlier forced his son Dwight out of the game, raising his fist in the air and crying out, "I got him! I got him!" was himself eliminated when he vied with one other contestant for the final chair.

In a timely move as the music stopped, Skylar Batley beat Crosley to the chair by a split second, then had to wrestle the chair away from Crosley, who attempted to unseat Batley by force. Batley hung on bravely, and when it was evident that he had won against the self-proclaimed champion, he raised his arms in the air in celebration of his well-earned victory.

In a desperate move, Crosley attempted to claim a share of the win by alleging that, by having his hands on the chair and because of competing against a younger opponent, he had earned half of the first-place honor. Judges of the contest disallowed Crosley's allegation.

Watch the video clip below to see the dramatic action, beginning with third-place Elizabeth Smith being eliminated in the next-to-last round.

2008-12-06T13:39:00.007-05:00

Recent Events

I find three notable things worthy of mention.

(1) November 23 -- Commissioning service for Rex II and Missy McDowell. Kathy and I went to the Millmont, PA, God's Missionary Church for this special event. Steve Mowery, director of the missions department at Penn View Bible Institute, preached the message. I did the commissioning on behalf of EFM, and offered the commissioning prayer. After that, each father offered a prayer of blessing.

In this photo, Rex II and Missy are kneeling. Rex and Hannah McDowell are standing at the right; Rex had already prayed for the couple. Drema and Tom Susan, Missy's parents are at the left; Tom is praying for them in the picture. Missy's brother Jason stands in the center, and Anita Brechbill, founder of RopeHolders is seated at Tom Susan's left hand.

(2) Christmas is coming! Kathy is wrapping a gift here; and is actually wrapping more presents as I write. We were planning to do outside lights today, but the third notable event is . . . .

(3) It has snowed today! The temperature was down to about 21 overnight and we woke up to a skiff of snow. Then the white stuff really started coming down. I don't think the weatherman was expecting this much -- at least we didn't hear anything in the forecasts about accumulation. I measured 1 1/2 inches of dry, powdery snow in one spot on the deck rail.

As you can see, the carport didn't do much to keep the snow off my car this morning.

I haven't been able to use my snow thrower for at least two years now, either because of the lack of snow, or because what snow we've gotten has come when I've been out of town. I think I'll declare 1 1/2 inches to be sufficient for getting the snow thrower out this afternoon. After all, we have a pretty long driveway.

2008-11-26T11:55:00.003-05:00

New Link at Right:

Here's an easy way to help EFM. Click on the GoodSearch link at the right, which will take you to their site. It's supposed to automatically choose EFM as the target charity, but you may have to start entering Evangelistic Faith Missions in the little window under "Who do you GoodSearch for?"

Enter your search words and look for stuff like you would normally do. Every person earns us about a penny for each separate search. If enough people do it, EFM can benefit well.

And EFM can receive even more if people shop through their website. Click on the GoodSearch logo, and at their website click on the GoodShop banner near the bottom of the screen. This will take you to a site where you can choose from among hundreds of stores, each of which will donate a small percentage of your purchase price to EFM.

Check the "Categories" of stores in the navigation bar at the left. Each category will give you a list of stores selling that sort of item.

I've done some of my Christmas shopping through GoodShop. EFM is ordering office supplies through one store that participates with GoodShop.

If we're searching and shopping anyway, why not benefit a good cause -- Evangelistic Faith Missions!

2008-11-09T14:09:00.003-05:00

Indianapolis Writers' Conference

Did I think I might be a writer? After all, I write monthly for the Missionary Herald, every other month for my associational paper, The Eleventh Hour Messenger, and two or three times a year for Opening the Word, a quarterly devotional published by the Herald and Banner Press.

I went to the 8th annual Indianapolis Writers' Conference this past weekend to find out where I stood. I gulped really big and submitted a published manuscript (an article from a recent issue of the Herald) to the "Thick-Skinned Critiques" workshop session. What would a professional editor have to say about my work?

Andy Scheer, editor and writing professor with the Christian Writers Guild put a copy of the first page of my manuscript on the overhead projector so that everyone could scan it. And then he (pictured here) started in.

He put a marked copy of that same page on the overhead projector, and suddenly my eyes were filled with circles, arrows, deletions, and carats, all blotching up my page with green. Whew! Of course, as Andy told us, this is how he would edit the article, based on a set of guidelines that he had handed out earlier. But at least he had reasons for all he said.

I was able to claim the edited version after the workshop session, so I plan to re-do the article according to his standards. I'm sure it will end up being shorter and punchier. I wonder how well I'll like it.

The conference was en eye-opener in a number of ways. Perhaps the biggest: I have a long way to go to be a writer. And its corollary: All of our conservative holiness publications need to send their writers and editors (at least their editors) to workshops like this, or else have them study with something like the Writers Guild.

If we want people to read us and take us seriously, we all need to to a better job.

P.S. -- At least I didn't fare as badly as another would-be writer who submitted a manuscript. On that one, Andy deleted one or two paragraphs on the first page and more than half of the second page. Whew! Maybe there's hope for me after all!

P.P.S. -- When I did the rewrite, it reduced the word count from 898 to 614. And I'd have to admit that, even though I'd be tempted to add back one or two things for clarity, the shorter version does say what I wanted to say. I wonder what Andy would do with a second pass at the article.

2008-11-06T19:10:00.011-05:00

Back to that Gutemala trip . . . .

Before we left Jalapa I got this picture of Kristin Duncan telling a story in the bilingual academy. She's telling the students that they don't want to be bad apples!

A couple of famous Guatemalan volcanoes as the clouds uncovered them one morning. Seen from Antigua, the old capital city of Guatemala. I can never remember which of these is which, but I think Agua (water) is the large one near the center with a sort of dip at the top, and Fuego (Fire) is the one to the left. That's a cloud behind it, by the way. These are not now active volcanoes, as far as I know.

The arch in Antigua. Note the cobblestone streets.

These little taxis are called "Tuc Tucs" (took tooks) and are at once the bane of the transportation system (there are lots of them and they crowd each other and the cars to claim space) and the blessing of many people (providing transportation where buses don't go and jobs for people who can't afford to buy and operate taxis or buses). I saw one that had a sign on the back: "When I grow up I want to be a bus."

Juan Lemus, an old friend and former student. Now with the Nazarenes, he's been told by fellow pastors and professors, "You still have an Emanuel heart." Our church in Guatemala goes by the Emanuel name.

Ronald and Anna Smith in a chapel service where I spoke during the revival services in Guatemala city.

Their granddaughter, Heidi, an MK from Mexico, played the keyboard for that service.

One afternoon I was downtown (with some others) and heard the national marimba band playing. They were in a bandshell to one side of the central park in Guatemala City. Nice music! Just PLEASE, don't tell anyone I was at a dance!!

Sadly, crime has gotten to the point where many neighborhoods have placed barriers like these at some intersections. A car BARELY fits between any two of them, so thieves, if they are present, either have to leave on foot or drive out very slowly. Of course, it also impedes the rest of the people (bad) and heavy traffic that might otherwise pass through (good).

And in other neighborhoods they've even put up gates.

The church where I preached the revival services has a nice youth choir, directed by one of the pastor's married sons.

2008-11-06T18:43:00.003-05:00

Returning to that Guatemala trip . . . .

This is Dr. Simi, who is the star attraction for advertising a chain of pharmacies in Guatemala. I caught his act in Antigua. You'll have to wait a few seconds for the action to start. He thought I was just taking his picture and posed. Too bad you can't hear the music!

2008-10-23T19:23:00.001-04:00

Someone dared me to post this picture!

Of course, I'm not at liberty to tell you this person's name, but it's a female who is a musically-inclined RN, who drives a green Ford Escape named Nellie, and who hasn't posted for over a month, and whose initials are CM.

Of course, one doesn't have to accept dares, but I thought this one might be worth it.

I do have some more Guatemala pictures, by the way; I'll try to get at least a couple more trip posts up before too long.

2008-10-13T01:42:00.005-04:00

Guatamala 7 -- Lee Rickenbach and I went to the El Porvenir church here in Jalapa for tonight's service. This is the second of our Emanuel churches in the city of Jalapa. Pictured is the pastor, Medardo Andrade, opening the service with wonderful worship chorus that helped set the stage for a blessed service. The pulpit is made of class with a wooden edge around the top and is filled with flowers. No photos of the outside, since it's very rundown. They're neglecting it as they save money to construct a larger church building.

This is René Ortega, who has known our family for years, though he was just a young boy when we served here in the 1970s. His prelude, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness," both sung and played, really set the stage for tonight's service.

This singing group presented two nice special songs.

This is the beginning of the preaching time. I'm giving greetings or making some other preliminary comments at this moment. I like the picture on the wall behind the platform, a man trying to "walk in the steps of the Savior."

2008-10-12T18:43:00.002-04:00

Guatemala 6 -- Just a couple of extras: First, here's the mega-bottle of Tiky that Maria found the other day. No, I'm not drinking it all! Kristin Duncan likes it, too, and Ronald, Anna, and Heidi Smith had a glass each to give it a try. It's a sort of pineapple flavor. There are two or three imitations around, but they don't even come close. The Tiky ads used to say, "Para la gente bonita" -- for the beautiful people. So I tell folks that I want some so that I can get better looking.

Okay, here's my new Einstein look, created just today. Formula: Wash hair the night before; use minimal amount of gel to comb it the next morning; drive down the highway with windows open. Ta da! Simple as that!

James Rickenbach saw me and said, "Einstein!" Then he told us that Einstein had once said, "When I think of the universe, I think of myself; and when I think of myself, I remember that I need a comb."

My wife says that she likes the "dry look." Really, Love?

2008-10-12T18:29:00.005-04:00

Guatemala 5 -- This is the church Rudy Solís and I attended this morning, in a mountain town called Mataquescuintla; also called Colís, the name most people use. The parsonage is at the left.

The original church was pretty short, only reaching to the brick arch that you see here. When Rudy pastored here a few years ago they extended to where the platform is now and added space on the left side of the new addition as well. He tells me that on Sunday evenings the sanctuary is full.

These fellows played for the congregational singing and gave us a special song at the close of the service. I don't think they're the regular musicians at the church. They left after the morning service to be elsewhere tonight, and then are going for a two-week tour in Petén in northern Guatemala.

Rudy called for a special time of prayer at the close of the service, and almost all the adult attendees came forward. After the service ended, three young men came expressing interest in studying in the Bible institute starting in January.

We had a tasty meal of "pollo con crema" (creamed chicken with rice) afterward. Here's Rudy with his plate of food. We also had Tiky to drink, but I didn't take another picture to show the regular bottle.

2008-10-11T01:13:00.008-04:00

Guatemala 3 -- Time to do a quick update on my Guatemala visit. I spent most of my waking hours in this classroom from Monday afternoon through Friday noon. Trying to get 35 class hours into four days will do that to you! Lee Rickenbach shot these pictures for me, both with available light. We were having a pretty good class discussion when he came in.

The fellow at front left in the gray shirt and the lady on the right sitting in the corner will graduate at the end of this month. With my class they both have more than enough to get their profesorado diplomas.

On Friday afternoon we dedicated the new ACE teacher training center. The heavy gray clouds threatened rain, but we only got a few drops at the very end of the two-hour service. The top of the two-story structure at the rear is a classroom and was part of what we were dedicating. The other portion is a large classroom in a building to the right. This year they're having school in the large classroom, but the church that is sponsoring the school is to have a place of their own in another year, and this will become a place to train teachers and supervisors for starting school in other churches.

The Smith Family: Granddaughter Heidi at the left, with Anna and Ronald. Money came from Anna and her sisters in memory of their mother to help finish the building and remodeling of the center. Heidi's parents, Douglas and Naomi Smith, have been missionaries in Mexico and are now working at Northwest Indiana Bible School.

James and Rachel Rickenbach cutting the ribbon near the start of the service.

Ronald and Anna Smith unveiling the plaque that will be placed in the center, which has been named for Anna's mother, Rachel Wiles. Ronald and Anna are finishing 30 years with Evangelistic Faith Missions and have served in Eritrea and in Bible schools in the U.S. They wrote EFM's centennial book and Faith Hemmeter's autobiography, and are now working on Irene Maurer's book.

2008-10-05T23:41:00.008-04:00

Guatemala 2 -- This is Sunday night, and since tomorrow starts the heavy teaching schedule, I figured I'd get another update on here before my time gets squeezed too much. Click on the pix to make them larger.

The church shown here is our "central church" in Jalapa. The two-story affair on the corner is the pastor's residence, which is also serving as church offices and a meeting place for the district and regional pastors' groups. The church is the pinkish part on down the road from the house with the sort of swept-wing thing that rises on the far end. The sky here is cloudy, but the light is good, since this was scheduled to be a 5:00 service. Notice that I said, "scheduled to be." It was well after 5:30 before we got started.

We got a pretty good surprise tonight. When the pastor got up to preach, he instructed a certain group of people to assemble in one section of the church. I was totally puzzled. Turns out that the Jalapa church is releasing a group of 49 people to go start a church in another part of town, a neighborhood called "Las Panorámicas de Jumay" and it will become our 4th church in this small city. Here are the 36 that were present tonight, lined up in front of the altar.

The pastor gave a short message before having them come up, and there was also time for the national church president, the regional leader, and the district leader to make their comments. Interestingly, we missionaries were left out, except that we were invited to the platform as witnesses. This is THEIR church!

This photo captures the moment when the national church president actually pronounced the changeover for these people from the central church to their own congregation.

Members of the local church board and the leaders who had spoken had a time of prayer and went up and down the line laying hands on the various people.

Lee Rickenbach praying for José Alberto Rivas, a retired pastor who is living in that neighborhood and will be part of the church. He says he won't be pastoring, but will probably be helping out some.

Afterwards they had bread, coffee, and tamales. Sorry, those of you who would like food pix, but I was busy eating and didn't get a photo! The tamales were good, though. And like I told someone tonight, in less than two days here I've already about had it all: Tamale, chuchito, and tortillas. About all I lack now is a Tiky, my favorite soft drink here.

2008-10-05T16:22:00.014-04:00

Guatemala 1 -- Arrived in Guatemala City yesterday afternoon and met up with Lee and Sharen Rickenbach. Went to a Mennonite place where they were staying so we could load up their purchases and then head for Jalapa. The Mennonite guest place is well laid out and nicely landscaped, as you can see. (I think the photos will enlarge if you click on them.)

For those who got my first e-mail, here's the way the two buildings are constructed, so that a person only has to worry about half-flights of stairs in going from one floor to another. Saves a lot of tiring climbing.

Here's a neat combination tree planter and garden bench.

Look at the gorgeous flowers that hang down along this outdoor corridor. Very nice!

Close-up of the flowers. I wonder if they're related to the orchid family, the way they grow.

We had a late lunch at a buffet, where they had the first chocolate fountain I've seen. Too bad the chocolate wasn't very high quality, like a Hershey or Dove brand.

Here's the San Juancito church that we visited this morning. It was a promo service for the Bible school and I preached. This is the congregation (the building is different) where I held my first revival meeting in Spanish in Feb. 1974, and there are people who still remember it.

In front of the building and again below, Aroldo Bocanegra, who was one of my students in the school years ago. He and some others make II John 4 come alive: "I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth . . ."

Lee Rickenbach, urging the people to "pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers." He also made announcements about the school's upcoming activities and academic year.

Lee, Aroldo, and a student singing.

The congregation. The fellow in the orange shirt in the aisle and a guy in a black shirt behind him are taking up the tithes and offerings in bags fastened to the end of sticks. One bag is for tithe, the other for offering.

An "amiga," unsaved neighbor, wanted to have her three children dedicated. I don't know what others think about it, but I remember when our church here debated the issue back in the late 70s and we decided (I voted in favor) to allow such things, with the proviso that we make sure they understand that we don't believe this saves the child. Our hope is that it helps people take a step toward the Lord and that it gives God and the church an opening into their lives. Would it help any if we turned them away?

Delicious meal after the service: Chicken, vegetable soup (here called "caldo"), rice with chopped veggies cooked into it, Guatemalan style, tortillas (I ate 5), and fresh-squeezed orange juice. Yum!

I hope you've enjoyed this little journey through a couple of my days in Guatemala. I'll try to do this some more while I'm here, though I'll be very busy. Starting Monday I'm teaching a theology class that pretty much fills up the three middle days from morning to night, and fills big chunks of Monday and Friday, too.

2008-09-30T20:33:00.002-04:00

Computers -- what a puzzle!

I sat down at my EFM office desk this morning and moved the mouse on the computer that I had left on all night. Nothing. I moved it again, and again. Nada.

I turned the computer off and watched the light flash on the CD drive, then the one on the floppy drive come on and stay lit. The monitor screen showed the name C----- in big letters. But the boot-up wouldn't advance from there. I turned the computer off and on again. And again. And again. Woe.

At 9:00 I walked in the door of a local computer shop, PC under my arm. I told them what was up and they said they would have it checked by this afternoon. I left the shop with a measure of dread. Was my hard drive gone? Was my data lost? Had I backed up my hard drive? Silly question! Of course not! Who does? We ALL should!

I made my way through the day using my laptop, the shop didn't call, and my dread grew. After a late-afternoon meeting finally ended, I phoned the repair shop and the guy said, "It's sitting on the workbench . . . " -- and I thought sure it was in pieces, strewn across the surface -- ". . . and is running fine." Huh?

Well, as it turns out, these things, said one tech, can "Hiccup," and when they do the best procedure is to unplug the thing for several seconds, then plug it back in, and the going should be good. He also agreed with another tech who had told me on the phone that one of my peripherals might be bad. If I don't get a boot-up tomorrow, I should unplug everything except the monitor and keyboard and try again. If I get a boot up, turn off the 'pooter, plug in one peripheral (printer, maybe?) and try again. And keep on until I find the bad guy.

So, I guess I'll play around with it in the morning and see. In the meantime, I'm glad the HD is all right and that my data's not lost and that I don't have to worry about backing things up for awhile. Uh. Er. I mean, that I have another chance to back up my data before I REALLY have a bad threat!

2008-09-14T13:44:00.002-04:00

Ike-like winds on Sunday

They told us that Ike would reach up this way. So far we've only had the winds, some of the gusts rather strong, much more than this video clip shows. It has made us think of what it must be like to be in a place where the winds are even stronger, are sustained, and last for several hours.

No rain here so far (2:00pm), but there has been rain in Indy. Isn't it amazing that a storm can have such far-reaching effects? Oh, the power of nature -- which is a mere reflection of the power of God!

2008-09-13T12:09:00.002-04:00

The main reason for little blogging lately

On October 4 I'm to leave for Guatemala, where I'm scheduled to teach a theology class to pastors the following week. It's a course I've never taught before, so I'm gettin' ready. I'd appreciate your prayers as I study and try to put together a course that will be helpful and valuable to the students.

2008-09-02T21:45:00.005-04:00

Deer in our side yard

We have a wooded area behind our house and behind our side yard where deer live. It's apparently a pretty good area for bedding down and not being bothered during the day. Across the road lives a doctor who has a nice expanse of land that includes a pond. It's not at all uncommon for us to see deer venture out at twilight and make their way across the road to drink and maybe to browse through the night.

Usually they're pretty leery of us. However, the other evening a doe and two fawns crossed the yard and the road while Kathy and I were in our driveway, so they must be getting used to us.

Last night (Monday, 9/1) I was sitting at the dining room table with my laptop, working on a theology lesson for my trip to Guatemala next month, when I saw a movement in my peripheral vision. There were three fawns in the yard, venturing toward the road. I decided it was time to try for a picture or two. One thing I quickly learned was that it's tough taking a picture in fading light through a double-pane window and getting a really clear shot. Still, I thought the pictures might be worth sharing.

Here are two of the fawns, looking a little hesitant.

One of those two, plus another fawn that was apparently a little more courageous, made their way toward the road. Thirst was upon them, and the pond on the other side was beckoning!

However, just as they were about to cross the road, three motorcycles (loud Harleys, from the sound of them) came roaring by. And the three fawns forgot about thirst and water and ponds and browse in their sudden fear. They turned quickly and ran pell mell into the woods. Here you can see one of them turning away from the road, beginning his flight. The other two would be right behind him.

2008-08-23T15:04:00.005-04:00

Creation Museum, Cincinnati

One of the places we visited, among the trips mentioned in the post below, was the Creation Museum. If you haven't see it, you need to go. Very interesting! I have a bunch of pictures, and may post a few of them in another entry, but in this post I want to show you three video clips taken on my digital camera.

The first one is of a girl, accompanied by two dinosaurs. I was experimenting with my camera, so part of the video is out of focus when I zoom in too fast on the girl's face. My apologies :-)

The second video is also in the entrance area to the museum section. This one is of a dinosaur high above the crowd, eating a vine and looking over his domain.

One of the contentions of the people who created the museum is that dinosaurs were part of the animal creation in the six days and that they lived alongside man and were herbivores. When asked the question about dinosaurs on the ark with Noah, their answer is that the Bible doesn't say how large or how mature the pairs of animals were, just that they were there; so small, juvenile dinos could have been on the ark in fulfillment of God's word. (By the way, Glen Reiff says that, though all the other animals entered the ark in pairs, the worms entered in apples!)

Within the main part of the museum is this short video of a dinosaur after the fall -- obviously a carnivore, if you note at the beginning the victim at its feet.

Within the museum area there are two or three multi-media presentations, such as a dramatic reading of the Genesis 1 account of the creation. In other areas of the building, accessible from the lobby, there is a planetarium, where they have an astounding presentation of the stars and constellations in which they whirl you through large distances of the universe and show different views of the stars and planets. And in the special effects theater is an evolution-vs-creation presentation that features rumbling, shaking seats when there's lots of noise, and even light sprays of water when they present the torrential rains and flashing lightning of the Great Flood. It's all very well done.

There are even somewhat exotic foods available. For example, I tried the Aussie Burger, a culinary experiment that I may not repeat. Working upward it had: Bottom half of bun; shredded lettuce and carrots; a slice of pineapple; 1/3-lb. ground sirloin patty; about three slices of red beets; tomato; three or four slices of bacon; and the top of the bun. At the very least I can say that the pineapple and beets gave the concoction a different flavor; and even that the mixture of the pineapple and beets caught my attention.

2008-08-23T14:30:00.004-04:00

Continued Kitchen Facelift

Whew! We've been busy around here, first with a couple of trips, like to Christiansburg, VA, to represent EFM in a camp meeting, and then with the EFM board meetings this week, which took two full days.

In the meantime, the kitchen light quit working. We probably could have remedied that with a couple of fluorescent tubes, but I, for one, have never really liked the light (see blog post below) that was there when we purchased the house. I suggested to Kathy that we might want to grab the opportunity to put in something nicer.

So we did!

The first picture is zoomed in and taken with flash so you can see some of the detail, especially in the glass shades.

For the second photo I turned on the lights for the nice glowing effect it gives.

Would you agree with us that this light looks a lot better than the long white "log" that was hanging up there before?

2008-08-09T21:05:00.003-04:00

Kitchen Re-do

What have we been doing since our trip to the Knoxville Zoo? Well, we went to a camp meeting in Clinton, PA, to represent the mission (maybe I can put up some pix of that soon) and we've been doing a minor revamp of our kitchen. Of course, when you work during the day and don't have too much time in the evening, and don't have too many free evenings, it takes awhile to do even minor stuff.

Anyway, here's what the kitchen looks like with a new coat of paint and new floor covering. The color up in the corner over the cupboards is the truest to the actual hue of the paint. The flash sort of wiped out the true color at the right. As you can imagine, this yellow sure brightens things up!
Those who have seen the previous, dark brown floor covering will see that the floor is lighter, too. The picture at the top comes closest to showing the true color. I've included the one at the bottom to show the pattern. Kathy likes the color, the stone look, and the fact that the floor is easy to care for.

We just finished the painting today, and then I trimmed bushes and did our annual sidewalk and driveway reclamation. We have juniper in part of our front yard, serving as a nice, green ground cover in an area that would be tough to mow if it were grass. Each year I have to trim the juniper where it has grown between 8 and 12 inches over the edge of sidewalk and driveway. Next time I walk to the mailbox I'll feel like the sidewalk has been widened.

2008-07-26T13:08:00.002-04:00

How would you interpret this cartoon?

I saw this in the newspaper a few days ago and it caught my attention. Is this a commentary on the Internet and the wide variety of truth and fiction found there?

2008-07-26T12:40:00.008-04:00

At the Knoxville Zoo -- July 19, 2008

A week ago today a bunch of the Hight-Bane family got together at the Knoxville, TN, zoological park. It had been a long time since we had all been in one place at one time, so some Friday evening visiting and a warm Saturday at the zoo were a welcome family gathering.

Below is the group (except me, the photog) that gathered for the zoo tour. That's Ashlee at the left of the wagon, Emma sitting in it, and Kelcee half hidden by Nicholas, who's standing in front of it, with Steven crouching to the right of it. Emma is granddaughter of Kathy's brother, Charles, who is at the right of the group.

Mike and I had a mutual problem: Michelle didn't like our hats! Melinda bought mine at St. Maartens when she was on a cruise in the spring. I think they looked pretty good, and they did a nice job of shading our faces.

Kathy and her mom.

Our grandson Nicholas was running back and forth from Kathy and me to Mike and Kim. Melinda caught him here ready to take off again.

Some bears or other (Barney? What do I know?) were at the zoo that day. Ashlee, Emma, Steven, and Kelcee posed for a picture. Nicholas had other interests. Bears didn't seem to catch his attention.

2008-07-10T21:09:00.004-04:00

Some Judges are Good

A judge in Tacoma, Washington, responded to a 465-page lawsuit that had been filed in his court. Citing a rule that requires a "short and plain statement" of allegations, the judge penned the following limerick:

Plaintiff has a great deal to say,
But it seems he skipped Rule 8(a).
His complaint is too long,
Which renders it wrong.
Please rewrite and refile today.

From the Indianapolis Star, 7/8/08, p. 2

2008-07-06T14:51:00.013-04:00

SIMO & Trenton, NJ

It's great to be home after more than two weeks away. I departed from Bedford on the afternoon of Father's Day, spending the night at West Broad Street Mission in Columbus, OH. The next day I drove on Penn View Bible Institute, where the Summer Institute for Missionary Orientation would be held through June 27.

In addition to classes and discussions about such missionary concepts as culture shock, cross-cultural communication, cross-cultural ethics, and a host of others, we also made some outside trips. One was on the first Wednesday evening, when we visited a Ukrainian church for their prayer meeting. Another was on Sunday morning, when we attended a black church and heard a good message.

On Sunday afternoon, for a major cross-cultural experience, we went to a Hindu temple.

Hindus have a total of some 330 million gods to choose from. At this particular location they worship one at a stage in his life when he was 11 years, 3 months, and 54 days old (if I remember their numbers correctly). Their worship takes place six times a day. While special music is played, audience members listen to the music, observe the acts on stage, and perhaps bow and pray, as the priests on the stage (depending on the time of day) awaken the god and dress him for the day, feed him, take him for a walk, etc. On this particular day they had a pool of water where they would place the god in a boat and a priest would push the boat around the shallow pool as they took the god for an afternoon boat ride. (No photos when these things are taking place; i.e. during the worship times.) Here's the stage with the pool:

Here are the musicians and singers. The keyboard (right) has a bellows behind it, so the musician pumps the bellows with his left hand and plays the keyboard with his right. The man in the center sings and plays a set of small cymbals. One or two others, such as the man at the left, play drums. There were actually four musicians during the darshan (worship time), but one drummer left before I could take the picture.

Lest you think that SIMO is all study and learning, we did visit Amy's Frosty Freeze twice to get generous portions of good ice cream. Going to Amy's at least once is on the SIMO schedule, but we generally get there at least twice, and sometimes thrice. Great for the spirit, not so great for the waistline.

It's obvious from this picture that Leroy and Myrtle Adams have learned to share during their 50-year marriage. They had just celebrated their golden anniversary the weekend before SIMO.

Brother Adams and I agreed on a day to appear in Egyptian garb during the class sessions. Part of the international flavor of SIMO was the host of national flags that were flying over the parking lot and the fact that we had a "webinar" session about Hispanic ministry challenges en America even as we wore the Egyptian clothing.

There was even a little time to play! I'm helping distract Daniel DeLong while his parents, Stephen and Yvonne, missionaries with ICHA (International Conservative Holiness Association) in Honduras, are taking notes -- on the class, not on child entertainment!

Following SIMO, I met Kathy at the Philadelphia airport and she went with me to Trenton, NJ, for the weekend. We enjoyed four services with the Guatemalan congregation, had a formal and a couple informal business sessions, and were excited about their plans to reach out to Stamford, CT, to try to start another church among Guatemalans living there. More on this later.

We arrived home on Tuesday evening, July 1, and it's been a race ever since. I think I'm about caught up, though, and getting this blog post done is a certain kind of evidence that there's light at the end of the tunnel!

P.S. -- I've tried to get the font to be the same size throughout the post, but for some reason the commands don't want to obey. I guess they think they're the bosses and not the servants.

2008-06-18T18:24:00.002-04:00

Replacing the mistaken repair part:

Sears is coming through – we hope. They say that, based on the phone call from our local dealer, they have inspected their bins and corrected any problem. They are sending (what we hope is) the correct repair part and will not charge any shipping, will discount the part 10% for our inconvenience, won’t require that we send back the mistaken part, and will allow us 90 days to make sure everything’s all right. That last point is nice, since I’m at SIMO till the first days of July.

As to the 10% discount and not sending back the erroneous part – well, for a piece of metal that costs less than $5.00, they’re not losing much.

Three days into SIMO, and all is going well. We're having a very enjoyable, as well as productive, time.

2008-06-12T22:01:00.005-04:00

HOW can I mow my grass?

Last week I was mowing our side yard and had made about 8 swaths when one of the back wheels fell off.

When I checked, I found that the spindle on which the wheel turned had broken off of the piece that allows the wheels to be raised and lowered on the mower. Not hard to replace.

So I got online to order the parts. I had my manual with a nice exploded drawing and the part number. I decided to order one for the
other side (unbroken), too, just in case it was wearing out like the broken one. The same exploded drawing and the same part numbers were online.

I needed these things by Wednesday so that I could mow the lawn tonight, 'cause tomorrow it's supposed to rain and Sunday afternoon I'm leaving for PA and SIMO (Summer Institute for Missionary Orientation) for two weeks.

Well, the parts came all right -- and I couldn't repair my lawn mower!! Wouldn't you know that the replacement part for the unbroken piece was the right one (top photo), but that the

replacement for the broken piece was the wrong one?!?!?I had to get ahold of another mower so I could cut my grass this evening. Who knows when I'll get the correct replacement part.

2008-06-12T21:51:00.002-04:00

Anniversary Update

Since Karen asked, I thought I'd let you see the meal we had (or most of it -- we ATE the brownies and didn't take pictures of them).

Well, we ate the rest, too, but had to shoot photos first.

Kathy's eating the chicken tortilla soup. It's thick with large chunks of chicken, rice, onion, diced green and red peppers, zucchini, and has thin strips of crisp, thin tortillas, and is just a tad spicy.

On the table for the main part of the meal: Kathy got two tacos while I asked for a beef taco and a tamale. Well, it was their version of a tamale; certainly neither Guatemalan nor even Mexican (at least the parts of Mexico I've visited). These entrees were accompanied by the usual rice and beans. We had a choice of refried pintos (which we
picked) or black beans (which I had in Arizona).

It's a pretty decent amount of food. I think next time I go there I'll just get the soup and the Border Brownie.

2008-06-11T17:43:00.006-04:00

Our 36th Wedding Anniversary

On Monday, June 9, Kathy and I celebrated thirty-six years of wedding bliss. Thirty-six years sounds like a long time, but, as I told one of the ladies in the EFM office, it doesn't really seem like that long.

She understood. "It feels like you've been married your whole life," she commented, "yet seems like just yesterday when you had the wedding."

That's about right. And living in two other countries besides the good ol' USA and traveling to various places has helped fill our lives and make the time seem shorter.

Kathy likes lavender and purple, so these are the flowers I got her. Would you say that the florist managed to get the hues right?

That same evening we went to Lafayette to see
our grandson, Steven, play ball. He's on a church team that plays against other teams from his same church and from another congregation in the same city.

Steven plays the catcher's position, one which I wouldn't envy, especially with my old knees! Can you imagine crouching behind the plate for an entire game like this?

I wanted to get several shots of him, but my camera batteries died before I got very many. I'd have liked taking a picture when he slid into home plate, beating the opposing catcher by a smidgen and scoring a run.

Unfortunately, I only got one offensive pose. Next time I'll charge my batteries before I go to the game.

They won this one, and then won again the next night, a game we couldn't attend. Their record is now 7-2, the same as the team they beat last night, so the two are tied for first place.

Makes Grandpa feel like smiling a little!

2008-06-01T14:23:00.001-04:00

Check out this clever animation:

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs13/f/2007/077/2/e/Animator_vs__Animation_by_alanbecker.swf

2008-05-31T19:34:00.004-04:00

I've finally found something I'm good for!

Today we drained our waterbed mattress in preparation for taking the waterbed apart, clearing it out of our bedroom, and putting in a regular bed next week.

If you've had a waterbed, you know that draining the mattress, especially the ones with the foam dampers inside that make the mattress nearly waveless, can be a tough job. We got the siphon to work and emptied water into the bathtub, which worked well, and we piled books on the mattress to help persuade the water to go out.

However, those foam inserts don't give up the water easily, so when the siphon quit running, we rolled up the mattress in an effort to squeeze more water out, and then I lay on the foot of the mattress in an effort to force water to the spout. And it worked. So I guess I learned that I can lie on a waterbed mattress and help remove more water after the siphon has quit.

I'd have taken a picture, but I didn't want to be vain about my special talent.

We got the mattress rolled up and got it out of the bedroom by using a 4-wheel furniture dolly that I made several years ago and a handtruck that can be folded into a 4-wheel version. See photo. No, that's not me draped over the two dollies -- but I can tell you that, by the time the whole job of dismantling and moving the waterbed was done, that's about how I felt.

2008-05-18T13:26:00.003-04:00

Poll results:

Which of the girls in the picture is my mother in her youth?

Left: 6
Center : 1 and a question
Right: 1

Answer: Left

(1) I only know of two of these pictures. In both, someone wrote the names on the folder space under the photo, listing Mom's sister Dorothy first. However, the picture that was in Mom's possession had an arrow pointing from her name (Jeannette) to the girl on the left. We accept that as good evidence.

(2) Mom was the middle child. It's obvious in the picture that she's in the middle, height-wise, which should be a pretty decent indication, though I know it's not perfect.

(3) Anyone who knows Michelle very well has seen that look -- piercing eyes, lips pursed just so. This photo has to be of Michelle's grandmother!

2008-05-14T13:25:00.005-04:00

Be sure to participate in the poll in the post below!

Here are a couple of photos from my mother's funeral services. Since she was an artist, we opted to display six of her paintings, four in the chapel and two in the foyer.

My brother Andy, my sister Elizabeth, and me with a self portrait that Mom did from an old photograph.

Graveside service. We had the chaplain from the care center where Mom lived for almost a year conduct the funeral and graveside services for us. She was an MK, raised in India, so had a great appreciation for some of the aspects of our family history. She is also a very caring person and was kind, helpful, and encouraging to Mom during those final months.

One interesting thing was that, when we arrived for the funeral service at the mortuary, the lights were out! Fortunately, because of a music glitch in tests the night before, my brother had recorded the music for the service on a CD and a battery-powered player was available. We all agreed that, given all the missionary connections, it was appropriate to have, or at least begin, the service without electricity. However, the lights did come on -- at the moment in the reading of the eulogy when it was reported that Dad and Mom had married! How appropriate!

2008-05-14T01:12:00.007-04:00

You can visit a memorial site and see some photos of my mom (and dad) in earlier days. You can also read the guestbook and leave a message if you desire. Go to Making Everlasting Memories.

The funeral services took place today and all went well. I hope to post some photos tomorrow.

Here is an early photo of my mother with her two sisters. Vote on which one you think is my mother:

Left, center, or right

2008-05-08T21:37:00.002-04:00

This picture of my mother was taken on Mother's Day two years ago.

Mother's Day this year will find her in heaven. Mom died today about 5:45 Phoenix time after battling infections that ravaged her body following gall bladder surgery more than three weeks ago.

My brother, Andy, and sister, Elizabeth, were with her when she departed. At the moment of her death a CD player was softly sounding out the hymn, "He Hideth My Soul."

I'm grateful that I was able to fly to Phoenix last week and be with her for a few days. She was only truly responsive on my first evening there, though she also showed signs of recognition and responded in more limited ways on two or three other occasions.

Two of the best answers were when I asked, "Is everything all right between you and Jesus?" and "Is Jesus with you right now?" To both questions she looked me in the eye and nodded her head.

Her granddaughter Michelle wrote her a note in which she said, "It seems it's time to say goodbye, Grandma, but only for a little while." We're glad for the hope of eternity that we have through Jesus.

2008-05-08T18:55:00.002-04:00

Go to EFM's website to see news and pictures of a fire in our new bilingual academy in Jalapa, Guatemala.

www.efm-missions.org

2008-04-20T15:53:00.003-04:00

I've been tagged by Karen Walden, so here goes:

(1) What I was doing 10 years ago

At that time I was director of Friends Of Missions, living in Columbus, Indiana.

(2) Five things to do today (make it tomorrow, since today is Sunday)

Write EFM's monthly prayer circle letter
Create the monthly prayer calendar to go with it
Take a call jointly with Daniel Melton to talk about his retirement plan
Mow our side yard, if it dries out
Prepare for missionary services this coming weekend in PA and Ohio

(3) Snacks I enjoy

Almost anything chocolate, especially donuts
Ice cream, esp. if chocolate is involved somehow
Mixed nuts
Corn Nuts (reminded by Andrew Bryan)
DQ Blizzards, esp. if I can get their German chocolate flavor and add chocolate cone dip
(Do you get the idea that I like chocolate?)

(4) If I were a billionaire

Pay off our house
Pay off Faith Mission Church's new building
Big offering to EFM and offerings to other missions
Significant help to my children
Big chunk into retirement

(5) Three bad habits I have

Overeating
Not exercising enough
Procrastination of certain things, esp. clearing off my desks

(6) Five places I've lived

Phoenix, AZ (where I grew up)
Rockwood, TN (where I met and married Kathy)
San José, Costa Rica (where I studied Spanish)
Jalapa, Guatemala
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Columbus, IN
Bedford, IN (Yeah, I've tossed in a couple extra for good measure)

(7) Five jobs I've had

Delivered the morning newspaper through high school (Arizona Republic)
Janitor in an office building
Janitor in a high school (both of these working my way through Bible college)
Pastor, Rockwood, TN (twice)
Missionary, Guatemala and Dominican Republic
Missionary administration, FOM and EFM

(8) Five people I'd like to know more about

Marc Sankey
Rex McDowell II
Andrew Bryan
Stephen DeLong
Doug Hoffman

2008-04-09T18:19:00.003-04:00

Okay, okay, so more than two days have gone by. Sigh! Some people just have to take you seriously and then bug you when you don't live up to their expectations.

I won't mention any names, of course.

Just to give you something to look at, here's a picture of me eating Easter dinner in Bolivia with one of our oldest church members, a Quechua Indian man named Sebastián, who is 85 years old. The sun was pretty bright, so I was glad for my hat, and I experienced what Faith Hemmeter told me years ago: The sun shines brightly and may feel hot right on your body, but it doesn't really heat up the air around you in the high altitude, especially as winter is coming on.

Our meal consisted of fried chicken and boiled potatoes, a boiled plátano (frying banana), salad (which I didn't eat, since I didn't know if the lettuce had been properly cleaned), and Pepsi papaya. Chuckle on that one. We didn't have the fruit, papaya. In Bolivia, in the common parlance, a soft drink is called a papaya, they think because the very first soft drink in the country was of papaya flavor and had a picture of a papaya on the label. Of such odd instances are interesting language terms born.

No forks or spoons, as you can see, so we ate with the original utensils that God gave us. They're pretty efficient!

2008-03-26T16:44:00.003-04:00

For those who want to know without looking again at the comments: Yes, the cake in the post below was very tasty. I'm not normally a big fan of this sort of cake, but it seemed to be just the right balance between being just moist enough and not too soggy, and having enough fruit to make it flavorful but not so much that the fruit was overwhelming.

Onelia, my hostess, said that the yellow and red waves around the sides were made with colored gelatin. I noticed that the strawberries that ringed the top were dipped in the red gel to really make them stand out.

I'm home from Bolivia and breathing again :-) and will write again in a day or two and tell you more about my visit.

2008-03-20T00:48:00.004-04:00

Hi from Bolivia. Things are going well, but since I'm on a slow dial-up I don't want to take time to say much. I just had to post these pictures of the cake that my hostess purchased for her husband and me for Father's Day, which was Wednesday, March 19, here.

2008-03-12T18:37:00.003-04:00

Well, Grandma got her pictures developed (see second blog below), so now I can show you that Nicholas really did sit on my lap.

I was a "lucky" guy for a few minutes!

2008-03-11T21:46:00.002-04:00

How well can you fly a helicopter? Thanks to Rex McDowell II. I got to 419 ft.

Update, 3/12 -- Made it to 720 ft.

2008-03-11T21:05:00.006-04:00

Well, after a surprise, whirlwind trip to Guatemala, I came home on Thursday the 6th, had a debrief with Director Manley on the morning of Friday the 7th, and left with Kathy for South Carolina about 10:00 that same morning. No grass growing under my feet!

I'm still not using my snowblower, either! Would you believe that this weekend, when we went south for Nicholas' (our 4th grandchild) second birthday, it snowed enough that I could have used it -- but I was gone?!?!?! Yessir, somewhere between 3 and 5 inches, they tell me, and my blower in the garage and me in the southland. Oh, well.

We got out on I-65 a little south of Seymour and got stopped for an hour, I think because of an accident somewhere ahead. We lost an hour sitting there, while the snow came down around us. When we finally got moving again, we stopped at a BK for a bathroom break and to get some food to take with us.

Approaching Louisville, we got slowed way down again, but at least didn't have to stop; and as we listened to WHAS we learned that I-64 to Lexington was getting very bad. We called Mike, who looked up the weather and told us that south of L'ville it was raining, so we opted for a longer, but safer, trip, and went on to Nashville before turning east. It made for more miles and time, but we ran out of the snow about 40 miles south of L'ville.

We had a nice weekend in South Carolina. We don't see Nick-Nick (as his daycare friends call him) enough for him to be comfy with us, so it was mostly look and touch a little, but don't hold him. Well, I did have him on my lap for a little while as he and I watched what his daddy was doing on the computer. Kathy took a picture. If it turns out (she still uses film!), I'll scan and post it.

I'd have some pix of the great little kid (although we have to admit that he's going into those Terrible Twos), but I lent my camera batteries to Melinda, whose batteries had run down, and then she ran mine down. Oh, wait, I did charge them up and shoot a couple of pix. Let's see if I can put one in here.

Well, okay, three then. He likes his dump truck, as do most boys, and he likes to play ball, as you can see. This was actually a large balloon that we batted around, and he had great fun with it.

I'll have little blogging time. This coming Friday, 3/14, I leave for Bolivia, where I'm to be in a graduation service, speak to pastors, preach two evening services, and help them celebrate Resurrection Sunday. No doubt there will be some other activities along the way. So far I've had very little problem breathing and functioning in the high altitude. Please pray that it will be that way once more. Thanks!

P.S. -- The Guatemala trip went well and they say that my presence helped make a difference. Nevertheless, we have some real problems there that only God can solve. I'd appreciate your prayers for our Guatemalan situation

2008-02-28T23:26:00.002-05:00

I keep hoping to have some time to update my blog, but time keeps slipping away. And now I have a sudden and unexpected trip to Guatemala this weekend that knocks the first part of March all topsy-turvy. I have to say, though, that being able to make the trip and hopefully be a help to the Rickenbachs is a pure miracle from God!

Short version: My passport was in Washington, DC, to get a visa for a trip to Bolivia during Holy Week and Easter. I have confirmations that my papers arrived at a travel documents office on Monday 2/25. I talked to someone at the office on Tuesday 2/26, and he told me that the Bolivian consulate takes 3-4 days to process visa requests and that I could expect my passport back sometime early next week (around March 3 or 4 or 5).

But on Wednesday 2/27 FedEx delivered an envelope with my passport and visa, and a ticket on the envelope said that it was scheduled for delivery on 2/28.

I about lost my proverbial eyeteeth. And during the next hour and a half I found flight schedules that would allow me to keep my obligation at Ft. Myers Rescue Mission and still get to Guatemala at a decent hour. And after I had looked at getting two tickets (one for the Guate trip and another to get back home from Miami), I checked a multi-city routing on the airline's website and got the whole journey for 35% less than I had anticipated!

So, would you say that God was working things out for me to go? That's how we took it, so "off I go, into the wild blue yonder" again. I'd appreciate your prayers. I'm due back on March 6.

2008-02-18T19:29:00.009-05:00

A little about my Costa Rica visit:

I thoroughly enjoyed being in C.R. again, this time with Rex II and Melissa (Missy) McDowell and their son, Devin. We stayed with the pastor and his family, eating most of our meals with them, laughing and joking and having a great time.

Part of our time was spent on buses, which yields us this nice photo of Devin, as seen between two men who were standing in the aisle.

And here's one of the family on another bus.

We did a lot of walking in the few days we were there, but it didn't make much difference. I thought sure that I'd lose some weight with all the kilometers it felt like I walked, but it must have been that we stopped at Pollo Campero (Country Chicken) -- a franchise from Guatemala and very good -- a couple of times for lunch. The first time we at there we were with the pastor, Rolando Meneses, seated at the right.

I'm not quite sure what to think about the next picture. I don't
THINK they were trying to steal Chick-Fil-A's advertising idea, but someone apparently thought this was a good way to announce their own chicken restaurant (not Pollo Campero). As I'm sure you can guess, the cows in the picture are urging us to eat more "chikin," though they didn't misspell it. Some friends who are associated with Chick-Fil-A thought it was pretty cool!

And lest you think that all we did was walk, eat, and ride buses, I'll throw in the only picture taken of me while I was preaching.

I won't show you the one they took of me dozing on the bus! I've never seen a more horrible picture of myself. Rex2, if you DARE to show it to anyone, your black list will become long and dark and everlasting!

2008-02-14T20:50:00.003-05:00

Hi, everyone. Back from Costa Rica. Had a good visit there, but no time to tell about it now. Gotta get to bed so I can go to Bloomington early for one of our church people who's having open heart surgery. Our pastor is chairing Sea Breeze Camp Meeting, and our assistant is sick, so he asked me to go in his place.

Did you hear about the fire that destroyed the maintenance barn at Allegheny Wesleyan College? You can see pix at www.awc.edu -- click on the fire link at the bottom of the page.

More later, with pix, I promise.

2008-02-06T22:21:00.000-05:00

Off to Costa Rica early in the morning, and I have to finish packing yet, so I'll just leave this brief note to ask you to pray for me and this trip. I'm due back on the 12th, and hope to publish a picture or two and tell you a little about the trip.

2008-02-01T18:54:00.000-05:00

Bummer!

I was hoping we'd get those 3-5 inches of snow that were forecast for today. No, it's not necessarily that I like snow. I'm just an economical sort of guy.

You see, I have a snow thrower that I bought about three years ago. I had a little electric one that was great in Columbus, IN, for a short, flat driveway, but now I have a long, uphill drive. I've used the little electric one, but it takes a lot of time for a little, 12-inch-wide thrower to clear a long driveway.

And who wants to get a heart attack by shoveling snow? I keep reading where more guys my age have heart attacks after shoveling snow than after any other activity!

So I bought this nice, large, self-propelled snow thrower soon after one of those big snows that really covered us up. The machine is a bright red, has three forward speeds and reverse, a crank that you can use to direct the way you want to throw the snow . . . well, you all probably know more about such contraptions than I do.

I won't tell you what it cost, but it was enough that I want to use the thing!

So far I think I've cleared my driveway twice, maybe three times. Last year the only time it snowed enough to be worth using the machine I was out of town and the snow melted on the asphalt and cement before I got back. So I didn't used the snow thrower all last winter, nor so far this winter. If it keeps going like this, I'll have two straight years of non-use.

Dave Ramsey says to rent the equipment you need rather than buying it. I doubt if you could find one to rent the day before a supposed big snow.

Anyway, I thought sure I could stay home from the office today and use my Big Red Machine. But, no, the snow went north of us. We got about 1/4 inch this afternoon -- about enough to make things white and to make me look stupid if I clear it with the thrower.

So, maybe next week . . . or more likely next decade. Probably it'll snow while I'm in Costa Rica Feb. 7-12 and the machine will sit in the garage and laugh at me. Come to think of it, that big maw in the front does sort of look like a wicked grin!

2008-01-28T19:40:00.000-05:00

Ah -- a sign of good writing! You don't have to be a genius to understand what I pen (I mean, keyboard -- which is not the same as waterboarding).

Thanks for the link, Michelle -- it's interesting.

2008-01-20T21:00:00.000-05:00

I flew to Atlanta on Friday for a Tax and Finance Seminar that was sponsored for the 17th straight year by a missionary group that EFM is a member of. We get all sorts of good info there and I enjoy going, even though I'm not a CPA and some of the info is over my head and beyond what EFM needs. There are some things we need to incorporate.

Anyway, I started hearing on Friday night about a coming snowstorm. Mike was concerned enough that he called me that night about it and said that, the way things looked, I might get stuck down there.

The next morning I was sitting in one of the best of the sessions when Kathy called a little after 11:00. She had gotten a message from NorthWest Airlines that my flight (for 5:30 that afternoon) had been canceled (6 1/2 hours before it was due to take off!). When I went out to the hotel desk to see if I could check back into the hotel (I could), it was snowing.

However, it never got nearly as bad as people thought it would. They got an inch or less of snow; it laid on the grass and bushes, but only made the streets wet. From my layman's perspective, we could have flown out with no trouble.

Maybe there were some other factors, though. For one thing, they were expecting freezing temps (like in the 20's) by late afternoon or early evening (they didn't come till after midnight). For another, the airlines might have projected not having enough planes coming into Atlanta to give them equipment sufficient to handle the load. And, for as large as the airport is (it contends with Chicago for being the busiest in the nation), they only have 4-7 de-icing machines, according to reports that I heard.

So, instead of preaching about the sanctity of human life here in Bedford this morning, I was sitting in one of those winged aluminum tubes, sleeping as we flew over Indiana on our way to Detroit. I did get home in time to make it to the evening service, though.

2008-01-12T21:06:00.000-05:00

Time to add a word so that you don't think I've disappeared from the face of the earth.

Our daughter Melinda took the Christmas photo at the right and I really like it. Just had to share it with everyone as well as choose a new template to show it off in!

2007-12-30T20:48:00.001-05:00

Fifth and final post today (prolific, eh?):

The first game in the youth Christmas party required each person to eat three saltine crackers and then whistle. This might have been the best game of all (except for Musical Chairs), You should have seen the cracker crumbs flying in all directions! I'm sorry that I didn't get a picture of that. In fact, I think everyone shown here is still in the chewing mode.

2007-12-30T20:40:00.001-05:00

Fourth post of the day: One of the games in the youth gathering required each one to chew a piece of frozen bubble gum sufficiently to be able to blow a bubble. When one had blown his bubble, the next person in line began chewing his piece of frozen gum. What you see here are the four best bubbles of the evening.

2007-12-30T20:31:00.001-05:00

Third post today.

Back to the youth Christmas gathering on December 14: One of the games we played required that each person wear gloves or mittens, unwrap a Hershey Kiss, and eat it, then pass the gloves on to the next team member. The team that finished first won the game.

2007-12-30T16:51:00.000-05:00

Second post today.

Some of the people from the Adult and Young Adult Sunday School classes who came to the Christmas dinner at Spring Mill State Park on December 13 (no, it wasn't a Friday!).

They say that it isn't good to take pictures of people while they eat. I understand that video is even worse! Anyway, if anyone is offended, please forgive me (and pay no attention to the fact that I didn't take a picture of myself with my mouth full).

Steve and Nicole Cassidy were the specially invited speakers/singers for the occasion, and they did a very nice job. It's always good to hear them sing and to hear Nicole's artistry at the keyboard.

2007-12-30T16:24:00.000-05:00

First post today. I purchased the following nativity figures on our trip to Honduras early this month.

The Catholics refer to the birth of Christ as a mystery (after all, the Virgin Birth is rather mysterious), so when I was asking about these figures, the lady at the souvenir market told me that this was "el misterio de los gordos," the mystery of the fat people. You'll see why.

First, a few of all the figures together. I need a stable large enough to house them in.I guess you can see that they're all rather round!

Next, a closeup of the three kings. Note the rich borders on their garments. One of the figures is kneeling.

Here's the shepherd. I think he's my favorite. Note the patch on his clothes. I like his moustache. I think it makes him look Italian. Isn't the sheep cute?

Now for Mary and Joseph. They, too, have patched clothing, for they are poor. Jesus didn't come to the rich and powerful!

And now the baby Jesus.

2007-12-21T20:08:00.000-05:00

At the behest of someone from Faith Mission Church (I won't say who, but her initials are CM and she's an RN and plays the piano), I'm posting this interesting little news story.

You need to know at the outset that the principal of Stone City Christian Academy here in Bedford, David Crosley, proclaims himself to be a champion participant in Musical Chairs. We haven't actually seen any evidence that it's so, but he did lay heavy claim to the title.

On December 14 we had a Christmas gathering for the young people of the church and school. Among other things, we played Musical Chairs. Well, most did. I took pictures, and I'm glad that I occupied myself in that manner!

(1) Here he is, hands waving, losing early in the first game. No wonder he wanted a rematch!

(2) In the second game, he barely retained his place in the line-up.

(3) His demise came in the very next round, with only three people left to occupy two chairs. A younger and more agile participant managed to slip into the chair even as our erstwhile champ was sitting down.

(4) He (somewhat) graciously acknowledges his second loss of the night.

2007-12-13T03:57:00.000-05:00

Just copied this fun link from Rex2 and Missy McDowell. Check it out!

Test your reaction time.

He says that the automobile driving manual says that the average driver's reaction time is .75 seconds, or 1 car length for every ten mph.

Hopefully I can squeeze out some time to do some more reporting on our Honduras trip. In the meantime, there's a little info and a couple different pictures on our mission website:

www.efm-missions.org

Check out both the home page and the prayer page.

2007-12-08T10:51:00.000-05:00

The camp meeting is over, the final service being last night. Though I'm a little hoarse this morning, God touched my throat and I was able to speak twice a day all week with absolutely no problem.

We had a missionary service on Wednesday night, the first time for such a thing in this camp, and the response was very good. Some people from our work in Costa Rica spoke for a few minutes and showed some pictures; then the fellow from Guatemala who is working in Bolivia did the same, and I followed up with a brief challenge. Even before I was finished speaking people started coming to the altar to offer themselves for God's service. The invitation song that we had planned ended up being a special song to close the service.

We had seekers at the altar every night and some evidences of help and victory. Thank the Lord for all that He did through the week.

I'll try to get some pictures up in the next few days. On Sunday we're planning an English service with the missionaries, then returning to San Pedro Sula after lunch to visit a church near the city on Sunday evening, so there's still ministry ahead. We'll appreciate your prayers.

These pictures: Kathy holding Larissa Robberts while her parents, Zack and Sarah, sing a special in an evening service; and yours truly dedicating a baby during the missionary service. Don't you love the way she's looking at me?

2007-12-03T13:39:00.000-05:00

Quick update from Honduras.

A photo of Kathy singing in the congregation.

A picture of Steve preaching on the first Sunday morning.

Camp meeting begins on Monday night, Dec. 3. Pray for us! My throat's been kinda bad, but so far it's holding out well. I'm trying to take it easy and pace myself and not get too loud.

2007-11-26T20:47:00.000-05:00

The day after Thanksgiving -- with all our children and grandchildren here, we went and had family photos taken in the morning, and then my wife declared an "all girls" (she, Michelle, Melinda, and daughter-in-law Kim) shopping time for the afternoon. No, it wasn't a "black Friday" kind of thing. They went to a new sandwich shop for lunch and then Kathy took them to a couple of new and interesting places she had found.

In the meantime, we guys (me, Mike, and son-in-law Rodney) got lunch for the kids. I thought I'd show you what you probably already know: The way we guys do lunch isn't anything like what our wives would do on a similar occasion. We just put it on the table. They would make it look nice. But, hey, we got the tummies filled!

2007-11-19T00:31:00.002-05:00

Here are pictures of the Sunday evening crowd. We climbed to 143 -- and I think there were even more who came in after the preaching started. This is in the auditorium of the education wing of the church where this congregation has begun renting. They can use the sanctuary sometimes and the auditorium sometimes.

2007-11-18T17:02:00.000-05:00

Two photos showing the congregation of 142 on Saturday night. They say that the sanctuary will hold at least 500 people, so our crowd looks kinda small in there, but it's still a record for this group! Too bad we can't claim them all as ours, at least right now.

The singer at left is our Guatemalan general superintendent; the man at right a member of the Trenton congregation.

2007-11-18T00:48:00.001-05:00

Saturday night in Trenton -- probably our largest attendance for the week, since we expect some people to attend their own churches on Sunday. I counted 142! It's too late at the moment to take time to post pictures, but come back soon and I'll put up one or two.

2007-11-16T00:01:00.000-05:00

I'm in Trenton, NJ, through Sunday, accompanying our Guatemalan congregation in special services as they begin using a newly rented facility. This is a group that, in four years or so, has gone through the phases of a dozen or so meeting in an apartment, to about twenty meeting in someone's home, to a rented store front where they grew to the sixties and didn't fit any more, to a rented auditorium in a black Baptist church where we had more than ninety present for the Thursday evening service.

God is still at work! Thank the Lord!

On Wednesday night I did a dedication/inauguration ceremony for them. On Thursday night I was surprised by the visit of three Guatemalans whom I hadn't seen in over 25 years, two of whom were students in the Bible Institute when I was there. I'm anxious to see what else the Lord has for us during the next three days.

Hopefully I can post some pictures here soon. Go to our website and check the EFM blog there for more details. www.efm-missions.org

2007-10-28T16:47:00.001-04:00

P.S. to the zoo story:

Have you ever seen a baboon dentist? Or is he looking at/for something else?

2007-10-28T15:49:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Kathy and I met Rodney, Michelle, and their three kids at the Indianapolis Zoo. It was damp, cloudy, and chilly, but at least we didn't have to worry about sunburn or dehydration, and it was nice to be together for an afternoon.

The Zoo does special promotions at various times of the year, so for Halloween they had all sorts of ghosts, skeletons, and monsters throughout the park. At the entrance they had this photo opportunity for making our grandchildren into the monsters that they are NOT. That's hydra-headed Steven at top right, one-eyed Ashlee at left, and purple people eater Kelcee at lower right.

In the Oceans pavilion, where they have lots of fish, penguins, and a Polar bear, they also have a pool where people can pet the dog sharks ("two fingers, touching from dorsal fin to tail," they instruct). Here's a picture of Steven touching one, with Rodney observing and the girls not sure if they want to. I did, and got the lower four inches of my sleeve wet, which kept me feeling chilly the rest of the afternoon.

A little farther along there was an elephant show. We were too late to see most of it, though we did watch the pachyderm create a three-color abstract painting. Actually, it was simple and colorful enough that I'd have been willing to be the winner and take it home! Anyway, when the show was over Rodney took the kids to touch the elephant, and here he is holding Kelcee up so she can learn what it feels like. Kelcee is in the light blue jacket.

There were rides at the zoo, too, and Ashlee opted to ride the carousel. (Steven and Kelcee with with Rodney on the roller "ghoster," which sort of scared them. I think they both wished that they had opted for this ride.) I don't know if Ashlee was riding a shark or a dolphin. Look at the teeth and tell me which.

Finally, as we were getting ready to leave, we saw this hooded skeleton sitting near the exit. We had earlier seen him walking around and greeting people, but now he was resting. Or was he? Did they stuff the costume with something and put it here while the zoo volunteer took a break somewhere? We convinced the kids to get near him to take a picture, but they wouldn't get too close, or would any of them sit in his lap. Note Kelcee's big eyes! They were a bit aprehensive.

And with reason! Suddenly the bony hand reached out and grabbed Steven's sleeve! I wish I had a picture of that moment. Steven was brave, but jerked away and went to stand with his daddy. Kathy (Grandma) said something about the hooded skeleton having a real person inside after all, and he shook his finger at her as if to say, "If your grandson was scared, it's your fault. Shame on you."

When the day was over and we had parted, Kathy and I stopped for a light supper and some hot chocolate. I don't know about her, but I felt a little chilled all day, and the hot drink really helped.

2007-10-20T10:01:00.000-04:00

Kathy and I were in Lowe's last night and saw a bunch of Nascar Christmas ornaments. Kasey Kahne. Jeff Gordon. Jimmie Johnson. Dale Earnhart. (But not Jr.)

However, I didn't see Tony Stewart anywhere and started wondering why. After all, he's a Columbus, IN, guy, which isn't so very far from Bedford. Then it dawned on me!

So I went to a Customer Service lady and she asked what she could do for me. I said I wanted to register a complaint. She asked what about, and I said that there were no Tony Stewart Christmas ornaments in the store. She looked at me and said, "You think you're funny, don't you?" She was laughing, so it wasn't like she was angry.

I said, "Well, after all, he's an Indiana boy and from a town just over the way."

"Yeah," she answered, "But I bet that Home Depot doesn't have Jimmie Johnson on their shelves!"

2007-10-19T21:59:00.000-04:00

Back home from Guatemala! I taught for a week, preached in three churches, visited a fourth, got to be with half a dozen old friends, ate tamales, drank "rosa de Jamaica" for the first time, and enjoyed every minute of the time.

But it's good to be home again. I think I'm getting caught up, and then I look at the pile of things still on my desk. No, catching up won't be THAT quick!

The only part of the trip I didn't enjoy was the almost-7-hour layover in Miami on the way back. There's not a whole lot that's more boring than sitting in an airport that long with a dead battery in your laptop and no place to connect. I finally sat near some people who were plugged in and got mine hooked up after they left, then got some work done.

It used to be that you could watch the people, but the way some of them are dressed any more it's almost better to bury your face in a book or something.

Anyway, it's great to be home and sleeping in my own bed. And that's where I'm headed soon after I post this.

2007-10-01T22:06:00.000-04:00

Hey, folks, no time for posting right now. I'm trying to get ready to give a class on holiness in Guatemala and am (1) behind schedule, and (2) frustrated with interruptions. Glen Reiff prayed this morning that God would keep me from interruptions, and this afternoon someone called to say that they were locked out of their bathroom and needed me to go unlock it for them. (No, it wasn't anyone in my family -- and no, I won't tell who it was!) :-)

2007-09-24T20:29:00.000-04:00

Hmmm . . seven random things about myself (I was tagged by Karen Walden -- check her blog and my daughter Michelle's):

1. My wife, Kathy, is the most important person in my life except for God, and I love her very much. Our girls always thought we were too mushy when we kissed in front of them.

2. I REALLY like chocolate -- but you all knew that! One of my favorite treats of all time was a Baskin-Robbins banana split that had chocolate ice cream, chocolate with almonds, and fudge brownie chocolate, topped with chocolate syrup, hot fudge, and marshmallow cream in the middle.

3. I also like Dunkin Donuts and am glad they're finally coming to Indiana -- though they'll be in Indy and not Bedford.

4. I usually enjoy writing and try to do a good job with my monthly article in the Missionary Herald and articles in other places. Good writing is hard to do, though, so I'm still bouncing around in the basement.

5. When we lived in Guatemala I had a darkroom and developed my own black and white pictures and color slides. Color photos were too tough to do.

6. I have visited 23 or 24 different countries, according to my wife's count.

7. Three of the classes that most prepared me for my life's work were: (a) Typing, both for letter writing and later using a computer; (b) Spanish, learning a language that I've come to love; and (c) high school speech class, where the teacher helped me overcome the fear of speaking in front of a group. {You were looking for something spiritual, weren't you?}

I don't know of seven bloggers to tag, so I guess this string will end with me. Sorry!

2007-09-20T14:16:00.001-04:00

Kathy and I are in Independence, KS, this week for a missionary convention at Independence Bible School. Things are going well and we're enjoying ourselves, though getting tired.

We took part of one afternoon and went to the Little House on the Prairie, south of town about a dozen miles. Since we've read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and have seen a couple of other places

where she and her family lived, it was interesting to go see this little house where they encountered Indians, wolves, and other excitements.

We also prayed for MK's one day in the convention, showing pictures of them in the morning challenge service. Thanks for those who sent names and photos.

2007-09-05T16:26:00.001-04:00

Does this thank-you note from my grandson make the Labor Day weekend ball playing worthwhile?

Amen!

He wrote this note Sunday evening in church and gave it to me. How do you like the drawing on the reverse side of us playing football? He has me labeled "Grandpa," which I've cropped out. Right now this note is serving as a bookmark in the current book I'm reading.

As I think I said earlier, he and his sisters about wore us out with all the activities and two of us trying to keep up with three of them. It was fun, though, and a keepsake like this definitely makes my day!

2007-09-03T15:00:00.000-04:00

For those who don't want the Spanish study below, let me just say that:

-- I have a fair start on the studies for the October class, but there's still a long way to go.

-- We had three of our grandchildren here this weekend while Rodney and Michelle celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary. What a time! I didn't get anything done on the preps during those days :-) -- but I had fun with the kids and got a very nice thank-you note from grandson Steven, thanking me for taking good care of him and for playing ball with him. We played lots of ball! We had a great time with them and I don't regret a minute of it. Thanks, R&M, for letting us have them for two and a half days.

2007-09-03T14:31:00.000-04:00

Para los que desean estudiar un poco el castellano, estoy dispuesto a ayudar un poco. Melodía dice que va a estar aprendiendo por mucho tiempo, y es muy cierto que habla correctamente. He tratado de hablarlo desde 1973 cuando fuí con mi esposa al Instituto de Lengua Espanola en Costa Rica, y todavía estoy aprendiendo.

El asunto de "lo" y "le" -- Se usa "lo" o "la" cuando una acción es directa y "le" cuando es indirecta. Entonces, "Juan comió la manzana. La comió rápidamente." Comer la manzana es una acción muy directa.

Hablar a una persona se considera indirecta. Entonces, "Juan habló con María ayer. Le habló con mucha cortesía." La palabra hablada se refiere a una acción directa, porque se pronuncia la palabra. Entonces, "Juan dio un discurso el viernes. Lo dio en la iglesia."

Otra forma de pensarlo es: "Lo" y "la" se usan para hablar de la persona o del artículo con la cual la acción se lleva a cabo. "Le" se usa para la persona o el artículo que recibe los efectos de la acción. Entonces, en los casos de la manzana y la palabra, arriba mencionados, Juan accionó directamente sobre esas cosas, las tuvo en la mano y/o en la boca. Por el otro lado, las personas (como María) que escucharon la palabra o el discurso recibieron el efecto de la palabra, pero no estaban en la mano (o la boca!) de Juan.

Sin embargo, cuando hablamos de algunas acciones, tal vez es difícil decidir si son directas o indirectas. "Bendecir" es una palabra así. ¿Nos bendice Dios directamente o indirectamente? En Guatemala siempre hemos dicho, "Dios LE bendiga," quizá por pensar que El lo hace a través de otra persona, o por pensar que no nos toma en Sus manos para hacer algo directamente con o en nosotros, pero que vamos a recibir el efecto de lo que hace.

Bueno, tal vez esto nos ayuda un poco. Si alguien tiene una explicación mejor, puede hacer un comentario.

2007-08-30T18:22:00.000-04:00

No, para mí el francés no es un idioma bonito. Mucho más bello es el castellano.

Si mi hija Melinda tuviera un blog, sería muy interesante. Ella podría contarnos muchas cosas de la medicina, de las personas accidentadas, de algunas cirugías, y otras cosas. Para mí sería magnífico si ella escribiera algo.

Today was our EFM board (bored?) meeting, which went from about 9:00am to about 4:00pm. It was fairly productive and really not too boring. I almost went to sleep a few times, though, mostly because I was up last night downloading about 50 pictures from our missionaries in Honduras. Whew! It seemed like the e-mails with photos would never end! I'm thankful for them, though, since I have a couple PowerPoint presentations to put together in the next week or so.

A request for prayer: I'm supposed to teach an intensive class (35 hours in one week) to our graduate pastors in Guatemala in early October (8-12). There's not a whole lot of time to prepare, and the books and other materials just arrived yesterday. Along with everything else I'm to be in three missionary conventions in September, one of them lasting five days; and will be traveling as far west as Independence, KS, and a little farther east than Altoona, PA. If you'd ask the Lord to help me make good use of my time, and to minimize interruptions, and to help me get all the preps done before I leave, I'd appreciate it.

2007-08-26T22:42:00.001-04:00

Goodness -- it looks like I'd better give Spanish lessons!

2007-08-24T22:17:00.000-04:00

Muchas gracias a todos ustedes por sus palabras de bienvenida a este nuevo "blogger." Va a ser para mí una experiencia muy diferente. No sé si voy a hablar mucho de mis nietos (Michelle es la que sabe más de ellos) o de la vida misionera (debo hacer eso en el blog de la misión, lo cual no he hecho). Entonces, ¿de qué voy a escribir? No sé. Si alguna vez tomo fotos de algunos venados que andan cerca de nuestra casa, eso sería buen tema de un "post."

For the rest of you: Thanks for welcoming me to the blogging world. I guess we'll see what topics surface here, but I have to write articles for our Missionary Herald every month, for our church paper, The Eleventh Hour Messenger, every other month, and various odds and ends from time to time, so my creative juices often run pretty low. (No, this is not a translation of the first paragraph!)

2007-08-23T22:17:00.001-04:00

I see that my font needs to be larger so that you can read it.

2007-08-23T22:08:00.000-04:00

Okay, okay -- everyone else, it seems, is blogging, so I might as well get started, too.

Besides, I'm tired of having to comment as an anonymous person in Michelle's blog and sign my name.

I don't know if I'll have much to write about, but come and take a look from time to time to see if I have anything going.

These days I'm supposed to be getting ready to teach a class in Guatemala the second week of October, so there won't be a whole lot of activity to tell about -- just study and write.