26

Here's a picture of a thoughtful yeti.  With a dinosaur in the background.  And a Clone Trooper helmet.  This is normal.  And... it's actually a warm sort of costume, given the temperature outside.

We've settled in to colder temperatures, which is only fitting because it is in fact winter.  This morning, it was 26, and it didn't really get much higher than that throughout the day.  It just felt like the coldest day of the winter so far.  The rain sort of sandwiches around the subfreezing weather in such a way that we don't get the snow or even ice, but rather just the cold rain.  We started the day earlier, despite the late start for school.  The reason for this was a dentist appointment for Madison that couldn't have been more well-timed.  She didn't want to miss school, and there it was:  a two-hour school delay.  And the roads weren't even icy.  it was still 26, but there were still puddles on the ground that were liquid, so apparently conditions weren't so bad that we couldn't drive anywhere.  

As for Madison's dentist appointment, all was well.  We'll have to return in about a month to put some sealant in around some incoming teeth, and that will help keep the Cavity Creeps away.  We made a couple future appointments for days where we aren't in school, so that will keep Madison happy too.

Anyway, it was a day.  She's getting ready for a few tests, and I was writing for "Storm Chasers," plus some youth planning.  Okay, a lot of youth planning.  That's for the older kids.  We were planning out messages and themes for the upcoming series for the youth now as well as the younger kids.  We're keeping busy!  I did the last of the voiceover work for the animated series we're currently in the midst of too.  That all wraps up in two weeks with the end of this "Elevate" series, which has been fun, although a bit tricky to write for.  

Tonight we watched a few new things, including a series called "Be Our Chef," which was fun.  It's a cooking competition that seems pretty creative.  We also watched a special about a team of scientists going up Mt. Everest to do tests that confirm global warming.  Of course at one point they do blame humans for global warming, but there's no scientific explanation as to why humans are to blame for global warming.   I guess that's just assumed.  Actually, I just wanted to watch something for "research," a little special about climbing Mt. Everest, and if you take away all the preaching, the climb itself was interesting.  The amount of people that are trying to get up there on that one narrow trail is just ridiculous though.  It's definitely no longer this place of solitude, where you're up there on the mountain all alone surveying the vast panorama at the top of the world.  Instead, you're in this big line, attempting to wait patiently as your oxygen tanks run low and there's people behind you and you get up there and stand at the top and take a selfie or whatever, and then you go down again.  It's a huge undertaking to get up there, of course.  But it's certainly more of a mountaineer tourist destination now, versus the remote location, forbidden and aloof.  There are definitely mountains out there where danger and mystery abound.  Link Sar and K2 are two examples.  Everest doesn't seem to be that as much.  Still, it was interesting in that respect to watch.  I remember reading "Into Thin Air" in the late 90's, just like everyone else, and I remember the terrible disaster from 1996.  And it seems as if with all those people stuck on the mountain at one time, they're sitting ducks should something else come along.  So there's obviously still plenty of danger.  It's just that the imagery we have of a solitary team of climbers ascending upwards to a  dangerous and desolate snow-covered peak is not exactly what is Mt. Everest.

Anyway, tonight we prayed, and we read from our book again too.  We're done with Matthew, and we'r moving next to the short book of Ruth.  This is to complement the Bible study the girls did in small groups last Wednesday night.  And further complementing it, we're going to watch "The Book of Ruth" soon, the movie featuring Carman as Boaz.  Which leads to his untimely passing today.  Carman was an icon of Christian music in the 90's, one of the guys who helped bring Christian music forward to a place where young people could actually listen to it without getting bored.  Until that time, it was just old-time gospel music.  And while there's nothing wrong with that, it was still great to hear a new sound.  Carman's "The Champion" was one of those songs that you could hear time and again in youth camps or even Sunday school, if you were blessed with that sort of church.  The rest of that CD is great too, as are the ones that follow.  Some songs may be dated or even maybe a bit cheesy.  But many others have stood the test of time, and the more important point is the impact Carman had on the Christian music industry, and of course the souls his ministry touched along the way.  He's been off-and-on sick the last few years, struggling with cancer.  Defiant to the end, he even released a new album, a collection of songs that take you back in a wonderfully nostalgic way.  I'll be listening to that this week, and of course we're watching that movie soon.   We'll miss him.  He was a fighter to the end, and he had the Heart of a Champion.