Testing from the iPhone/iPod

Testing from the new iPhone/iPod App for WordPress. You can locate it at this LINK.

If the hyperlink above does not work it is this link, iPhone.wordpress.com.

Watching the movie Sting with my wonderful wife.

Even Spurgeon Quoted About Wasps

I found this quote in the Logos School’s (Moscow, idaho) newsletter being used to support our children receiving a Christian education. It caught my attention even more with the recent event I and a friend were involved with on Friday. See ‘Be awake’ post.

“‘You cannot destroy a wasp’s nest without being attacked in return. Yet this is better than stagnation. In a slumbering church it is the adversary’s chief business to rock the cradle, hush all the noise, and drive away even a fly which might light upon the sleeper’s face; Satan’s great dread is lest the church should be aroused from her dreamy slumbers.’ - Charles Spurgeon

May God arouse the Church and may one indication of that awakening be the vast numbers of Christian parents finally resolving to make sure their children are educated in the Lord.”- Mr. Garfield, Headmaster at the Logos School

Twitter? A Definition in Plain English

Be on Guard, Keep Awake

“Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come” (Mark 13:33)

When fishing it is always a good idea to be mindful of your surroundings. BSDinkins and I found ourselves not being as careful as we should while fishing a pond on Friday morning. As we headed back to the dock we decided to try one more spot. Honestly there was nothing “fancy” or great about this spot, we just did not want to leave the solitude, peacefulness of an early morning fishing trip. As BSDinkins was going to tie the boat to a stump sticking out of the water, I warned him to look for snakes. This came from a close encounter with a couple of moccasins wrapped around one another on a stump limb when fishing at Low Falls back in the high school days. Now when tying off to a stump, that is what I always look for. My eyes/mind was more focused on looking for snakes than for what was awaiting us. We did not see any snakes. He went tie on. As I began to look more for the “one” our eyes missed, my eyes caught the site of a wasp nest. About 6 - 8 inches in diameter with white droppings (eggs) hanging down and 50-60 worker wasps protecting. As I warned BSDinkins to not grab hold, I believe he caught a glimpse of this site also. The boats were about 2-3 feet from the stump and we were 3-4 feet. We both eased our backs back and began to move very slowly. The next minutes were a disaster when the first worker wasp flew off and headed to BSDinkins. As this scout made the others aware, they seemed to all fly off toward him. He jumped in the water. I watched this thinking if I am still, they will fly right by as they see I am not attempting to do anything. WRONG! As I read later “wasps attack when the nest is disturbed and each can sting repeatedly”. After realizing there were more coming toward me than I could fight off, I jumped in also. We sustained bites mostly to our head (which was unusual that none bit our faces), and I received several stings to my arms (stings typically cause localized pain and swelling, but in sensitive individuals or when many stings occur whole body effects can occur including allergic reactions that may result in death; males are incapable of stinging because the stinger on the females is a modified egg-laying structure and it is not present in males). Care to know how a Paper Wasp sting compares to a Fire Ant? We swam, pulling the boats back halfway to the dock and jumped back into the boats and looked at one another knowing how much worse it could have been. My future friend, BSDinkins, said on the ride home, “there’s an illustration in this story somewhere”, which I am sure will come out sometime. Also I found out that I am allergic to wasp stings. Or maybe when I’m only bitten a dozen times.

A few pictures from our expedition

Billy Graham and TedTalks

TedTalk is a conference/organization which gathers to discuss technology in our day and our cultures.
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Our mission: Spreading ideas. We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we’re building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world’s most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other. TEDTalks began as a simple attempt to share what happens at TED with the world. Under the moniker “ideas worth spreading,” talks were released online. They rapidly attracted a global audience in the millions. Indeed, the reaction was so enthusiastic that the entire TED website has been reengineered around TEDTalks, with the goal of giving everyone on-demand access to the world’s most inspiring voices. Today, TED is therefore best thought of as a global community. It’s a community welcoming people from every discipline and culture who have just two things in common: they seek a deeper understanding of the world, and they hope to turn that understanding into a better future for us all.

This particular TEDtalk is with the Rev. Billy Graham. It is somewhat dated (1998 I believe), but recently placed online. Reverend Billy Graham marvels at technology’s power to improve lives and change the world — but says the end of evil, suffering and death will come only after the world accepts Jesus Christ as savior. He looks to question those who are a part of this technology shift with asking questions pertaining to these 3 areas which he does not believe are being addressed in this culture shift: Human Evil, Human Suffering, and Human Death (I believe, though I do not recall if he stated a #3. Please correct me if you hear otherwise).

more about “Billy Graham: Technology, faith and h…“, posted with vodpod

Divided Hearts

In July 11th’s radio broadcast on Dr. Al Mohler’s show, guest host, Russell Moore provided an opportunity to give a “shout-out” to mothers. The broadcast called, “Living Out the Glories of Motherhood” provided encouragement to mothers on their high-calling. I am thankful that the Lord has provided for our family to have my precious wife and mother to our two boys the opportunity to stay at home and to refine her high-calling. In the broadcast, one of the guests (a prior singer to Point of Grace) provided a wonderful quote which the Lord used to transition her from working outside the home to becoming a full-time homemaker. The quote came from Mrs. Mary Mohler (Link1) during a testimony which she reflected on a book and a quote by Mrs. Sally Clarkson. I plan on getting this book and reviewing it for our church’s book kiosk. The quote from Mrs. Clarkson goes, “It’s hard to accomplish with a divided heart.” Listen to the broadast here:

Living Out the Glories of Motherhood
Guest Host: Dr. Russell Moore
Guest: Brian and Heather Payne

Here is Sally Clarkson’s blog, I Take Joy

Other books by her:

• The Mom Walk: Keeping in Step with God’s Heart for Motherhood
• Ministry of Motherhood
• Educating The WholeHearted Child
• The Mission of Motherhood

Mrs. Mary Mohler Resources:

• Modeling Modesty (PDF)
• The Vanity of Worldly Beauty (AUDIO)
• The Beauty of Women (AUDIO)
• Motherhood Matters (PDF)
• Mary Mohler Search in CBMW (Search field)
• How to Be Feminine in a Feminist World (AUDIO)
• Audios from CBMW (AUDIO)

Blueberry Picking….Again

Since posting our July 4th Post which included our daily activity that day of Blueberry Picking we’ve had several folks ask us where is this place. So to assist all who want to know about this great little secret that is known locally in Chapin, we will post a little more about here including directions to get there. Since we went again today, we’ll post those pictures. Today we picked about 9.5lbs of blueberries in 2.5 hours.

To get to Mr. Folk’s Blueberry Patch
From I-26 get off Exit 91 (Chapin Exit)
Travel towards the town of Chapin
After passing the High School on the left and the cemetary on the right, you will make a left onto E. Boundary Road (Google Map link). There is Mt. Horeb Lutheran Church on the corner.
Travel about .25 mile and you will see a large white sign which says, “Collins Produce” or “Collins Blueberry Patch” on your left. This is the place.
Travel down the dirt/rock driveway along the field’s edge and you will see a small shack with parking to the left.
YOU’VE ARRIVED and tell him The Espinosas (S-Pin-0-sah). Doubt it will get you anything but a warm smile, which he and his wife provide anyway free of charge. It’s just fun to see how many people will tell him.
In our photos from today, you’ll see some familiar faces who happened to see our previous post and decided to go on up today as well.

Map

View Larger Map

Photos from today’s adventure:

Lots of ripe berries today.

He did better today at picking more blue ones than green ones, though in the end, he ate both and did not care.

We should have paid for another pound of berries with what the boys were eating.

Singleness of purpose.

On to the blueberry popsicles when it was time for a snack.

From To see more photos from today, click here.

The Boys and Pictures from Slip & Sliding and EdVenture

The Boys: JMEjr still is not potty trained though has gone on the potty (#1) several times, just does not want to go regularly. Why should he? It’s so much more efficient to just go anywhere, then to have to go to the actual room with a specified location and tool to go to the bathroom. BUT he has gotten to a place where my precious WLW can leave clothes out for him and he can put them on himself. That is pretty cool and handy. CJE continues to progress in his speech. Though there are not any consistent actual words coming out, you can watch him watching you to try to get the words out. It’s very endearing.

Below are photos taken on July 5 and July 7. The 5th’s were a part of the outside slip and slide while the 7ths come from the children’s museum, Edventure. We became weekday members which allows us free entry into the museum all year but only on weekdays. Who would want to go on the weekend anyway! Recently (not on this particular s & s day) I’ve added a small children’s slide to the top of the slip & slide and now they get some speed.

From View more of June 5th Slip & Slide

Now from Edventure….

From More from Edventure, click here

Family Enrichment Conference 2009

The Session of Christ Church and Christ Reformed Church are in the planning stages of setting forth an opportunity to hear from Dr. and Mrs. Glen Knecht, former pastor of First Presbyterian Church of the Columbia. He is currently pastoring Christ Reformed Evangelical Church. He is a supreme shepherd and a powerful preacher with a passion for the family.

The dates set for this opportunity is Thursday, February 12th evening to noon on Saturday, February 14th AD 2009. Unless the Lord directs otherwise, this will be hosted at Bonclarken. This occasion will be for singles, married, those divorced and remaining unmarried, et cetera. We all have families and will be profited by gathering as one. No children, except perhaps nursing babies, will be attending.

Please mark your calendars and more information will be published as it becomes available.

Dr. Glen Knecht Resources (this list will grow, so check back)

Sermon notes online

Audio Sermons

• Zechariah 4:10a - The Significance of the Small - Dr. Glen Knecht

Books by Dr. Knecht

• The Day God Made (http://tinyurl.com/LordsDay)

Bonclarken

About Bonclarken.

We will be staying in the newly built facility named “The Lodge“.

Google Maps Location (http://tinyurl.com/bonclarken)

Nearby Attractions.

The Roads We Have Traveled in 6 Years

“How beautiful and how delightful you are, my love, with all your charms!” (Song of Solomon 7:6)

On this day, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my Lord for such a wonder lady wife (WLW) which He has provided to me in Lauren. 6 years ago today, we were preparing for the start of a lifetime of changes. Roads which neither of us have traveled will now be traveled together. Our charge that day was to LOVE.

• L - live it out
• O - out do one another
• V - value
• E - enjoy

Through trials and victories we have, in Christ, grown more in love with our Saviour and more in love with one another. I love you and cherish you more this day. I am not perfect. I sin and fall short each day. But you, by His grace and love for your Saviour, continue to see past my sins. You hold me to them. You cause action for me to change. You are a help-meet beyond what is expected.

“For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities– all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven” (Colossians 1:13-20).

July 4, AD 2008

We had a very fun and eventful day on Friday, July 4. First thing in the morning, we woke up, ate breakfast and took a drive to Chapin to visit a blueberry farm which someone at our church just purchased. The blueberry picking was fun, different than strawberry picking, mostly because it takes soo much more blueberries to fill a pail than it does strawberries. But after about an hour, we walked away with about 3lbs and only paid $1.60 per pound. Now that is a great deal! In the photos below you shall also see we walked away with some homemade blueberry popsicles.
We came home, rested and prepared for a late night which we knew were going to have. We gathered with several families from church for a cookout. There were about 17 adults and about that many or slightly more children. PACKED! And great!. It was really fun to see this many children. The weather kept us outside but for short opportunities and we were thankful that the Bonnett home has a fabulous upstairs playroom. We ended the evening shooting some fireworks, which this year JMEjr did not like as much as last year and CJE was enamored with the loud booms and colorful displays. Getting back home around 10:00 p.m. was late for the boys but they did great all in all.

The Morning Adventure:

On to the Evening Festivities:

To view more from this album view here:

July 4 AD 2008

An Album Worthy to View from Lindsay Wardlaw

I would like to direct y’all’s attention to a photographer whose photos are worthy to view. She does a lot of landscape and a lot of people. She is for hire if you desire to have family photos done or just children photos and the great thing about hiring her is that you don’t have to go to a “stale”, boring studio which offers back drops that fall from the ceiling. She’ll come to your home, meet you at a park and for the right price, will travel to the beach. If you stay around the Columbia area, she is very affordable and offers a package built specifically for you.

You may find Lindsay’s album at this link.

She can be contacted via email (lindsay.wardlaw AT gmail DOT com) or on Facebook.