Moon Knight

Tonight we got around to watching the first episode of "Moon Knight" that premiered yesterday, and it was pretty wild.  It's getting increasingly difficult to imagine some of these Marvel characters coexisting with one another, particularly with Egyptian gods and goddesses and crocodile things.  Hopefully we'll see Offler the Crocodile god soon too.  Anyway, Maddie made sure we had time to watch this tonight after taekwondo, so we all sat down a bit later and tried to make sense of a crazy first episode.  Te Egyptian part is interesting, given that the main actor has already portrayed a Marvel character that was once worshipped as an Egyptian god.  Apocalypse and Moon Knight are very different characters, of course.  All this Egyptology is bringing back memories from Maddie's early, early childhood, when we went off to see King Tut's treasure on display, along with a whole lot of other relics from that ancient time.  It was pretty educational, and also pretty weird.  For some reason, one recurring memory involves Egyptian pyramid toy that the Little Einsteins could visit, and of course that episode we have on DVD still downstairs in the basement.  Happy memories with Maddie when she was super young.  Strange that I associate Egyptian stuff like that with all Maddie's early childhood, but there it is.  I remember us doing that "Exodus" series at KidPak around that time too... good times.

It was a nice day today.  I finished the new script for this weekend, and the majority of the lines are given to the younger cast members, the Newsies we have.  It should be a good start to our series, setting up a story that I think will be fun and certainly different.

Maddie had her taekwondo today, as mentioned earlier.  She's been going on Thursdays a bit early to help out with the younger students, and then she herself has a class with leadership.  She's been working on her form, working with kamas, and even with the leadership class she helps the younger students.  The classes are getting pretty big, which I'm sure is great for the Edges.  They're great people, and Maddie loves coming to class.

We're still working towards Easter of course.  Lots of work to go, but there was writing today for that, and ordering of Roman costuming that should be getting here soon.  Mom still has to do a lot of sewing on those Roman costumes, but at least there's a game plan.  So much left to do and only seventeen days left.  We're racing against time now.

Tonight we read from Kingdom Keepers, and we said our prayers afterwards.  It was a good day, but we're all very busy lately.

Jedi Cooking

The force is strong with this one!   Mom was doing a little jedi cooking with the sausages this morning for breakfast!

It was a busy day today for us with planning for Newsies and for the Easter production, which is fast approaching.  Maddie has school too, of course, but tonight she was at Free Chapel Youth, having a good time with the other students.

It was a good day today, but a busy one.  I'm writing skits for other campuses too, and making sure all the details like banners and books are good for KidPak.  Speaking of which, the new booklets for "Good News" look so great.  It's exciting seeing this new series come together, and it's going to be a lot of fun watching the younger cast members get into their roles.  

We read tonight, of course.  We're almost two hundred pages in, and there are things going on within the story in 1955 and in the present year too.  The Overtakers are relentless!

After prayers tonight, Putnam, Chuck, Maddie and everyone else that was there or story time went down the hall to get tucked in with the proper alignment of blankets, and then it was time to say "Good night, stinky," and then we were all asleep pretty quick!

How do you eat Swiss Rolls?

So today's controversy is not so much about wheels or doors or even people slapping one another at awards ceremonies, but rather a question of such importance that a debate arose from the hallowed halls of Free Chapel, extending beyond the four walls of the church and reverberating throughout the social media world, echoing resolutely a question that challenges the very foundations of our beliefs:  how do you eat a Swiss roll?

Mom had packed one for me at lunch, and I was once again going to eat it, and once again, Camille was there to insist that I eat it the correct way, which means unrolling it.  That means peeling off the outer layer of chocolate, eating the flaky dark chocolate bits that come off the outside layer, and then after that unrolling the entire thing, eating the spongy chocolate, and then isolating the white creamy core, saving that for last.  I've never eaten a Swiss roll this way, instead opting to simply take a bite out of it and enjoy the combination of textures and flavors all at once, one bite at a time.  But she was very persistent in her belief that many other people eat a Swiss roll the way she does, and in fact she found a few allies within the church to support her extremist beliefs.  Ivan, who heads up KidPak's music department, is also a follower of the peeling ritual, describing his process as "skinning" the Swiss roll first.  As if we all just went hunting this morning, caught a few wild Swiss rolls, and then skinned them and ate them afterwards. I am not extremist, but rather a fundamentalist, one who believes in the marriage of textures and tastes, where people should eat a Swiss roll not separate, but intertwined with merging flavors and experiences tantalizing the senses.  I am not alone in this method of consumption, as Josh was quick to rally to my side, along with many others.  After an online poll was created, the results quickly confirmed that while Camille's extremist beliefs are in the minority, there appears to be an entire generation committed to continuing the great traditions of unrolling the Swiss roll first.  Both have their benefits, of course, and there is no wrong answer, at least to me.  Others are more aggressive about their feelings, of course.  But I believe the two ways of eating a Swiss roll can coexist in chocolate harmony.  To that extent, the typical package has two Swiss rolls inside it, so I ate each one using a different way.  The peeling takes a long time, but maybe that's the point:  taking your time and enjoying it.  The other process - biting it - allows you to enjoy all the flavors merged together in one experience.  I believe we can all get along together with this one.

OKay, I didn't know I could write so much about a Swiss roll.  There you go.  Today was a lot of work towards the Easter production, and with that a lot of stress, and I'm dealing with a lot of rising blood pressures lately, which I'm trying to counter with more walking, more sleep and better eating habits.  The blood pressure is still high, and that's a little unnerving.

I did a game for our Newsies-themed series upcoming, one that deals with imaginary headlines that should get some laughs.  We did a lot of other set-up work for the new series, which starts this weekend, even working on the first script for the series.  That will come later when I get it done, but the idea is to have Maddie and the other younger cast members as Newsies, and the main characters of the series.  It'll only be one month long, but it'll be fun!

Tonight we watched "Return of the Jedi" again, part of our ongoing "Star Wars" marathon that has gone on for eight movies now.  The next ones are the sequel trilogy, which the general consensus is that the first one was good, but the following two were not that great.  So the question is, do we watch them?  I guess we'll find that out over time, but there are other things to watch, and for tonight, it was late when we were done, so it was time to head upstairs and get ready for bed afterwards.

We read from our Kingdom Keepers books, and there are zombies around, to which I say by this point, "Why not?"  We did learn a few effective ways to ward off zombies, or at least they could work - we'll find out soon enough as the story unfolds.

We said our prayers after this, and got ready for bed.  It was a nice day, although as I said, we're in a stressful season.  As much as I love Easter, I kind of can't wait for April 18th this year.

Worldle, Podcasts, and Echocardiograms

Welp, I finally finished another podcast here.  Lately Maddie has been listening in here and there as I've been running through these podcasts about history.  We started out with podcasts that followed each President, even William Henry Harrison.  After that, a podcast on the different Amendments of the Constitution, which was actually pretty fascinating.  The story behind the Twenty-Seventh Amendment is pretty funny and interesting, and some of the other stories have been very intriguing.  The "cruel and unusual punishment" Eighth Amendment brought us back to Parchman Farm, which the made me go back and watch once more the movie, "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?"  

The latest was a podcast called "Moonrise," which has a whole lot of behind-the-scenes info on the Space Race, and a lot I hadn't heard before.  It's been interesting stuff.  Maddie listens in sometimes on the way to taekwondo or school or whatever.  Despite all you know, there's always more to learn.  I've got so much information about the Space Race in my head, about individual astronauts and missions and locations and incredible stories, but this was a broader overview about the leadership and motivations to go.  It's been good, anyway, and makes me want to watch the old Disney television shows about some day going to the moon and beyond.  I like listening to music and whatnot on the treadmill, but there are a lot of interesting historical podcasts to listen to as well, and there's always something else new to learn.

It was a quiet day.  The birds are here in force, including the yellow rump pine warbler, which seems to love the grubs Mom puts out as much as those bluebirds.  And yes, the bluebirds are here and it's nice to see the guys feed the girls some grub they found.  The male cardinal does that too, and the onlookers from inside the house sit there and go, "Awwwwww!"

We were out to various thrift shops today, looking for costuming material for the apostles and Bible characters.  We were looking for leather belts and straps and even satchels and purses.  And along with the trip to the thrifts shops, we were out looking for various fabrics too, which Mom got a lot of for sewing together some of those costumes.  

I had an echo cardiogram today, which is one of those things where they scan your heart in this nice little quiet room.  I was there at the second floor of the heart center in Gainesville, and there wasn't much of a wait, although there was a good bit of people there waiting for various appointments and procedures.  Mine was just a routine check on things to make sure all was well.  The pictures came out well, from what I understand, although my blood pressure has been up lately.  I attribute that to the immense amount of stress of the production, the new series, the current series, and not really having any down time at home.  At least not that much.  I have to go and hide sometimes, which I don't like to do in my own house of course.  But it is what it is.

We had a productive day today.  One amusing thing that is growing a lot is our group's obsession with the game "Wordle."  Each morning we start out, and Mom and I are doing the same word that Maddie is working on a little later, and all our other friends are online attempting to figure it out as well.  It's not uncommon to get a random text that just says, "THREE!"  And I know exactly what that is - the person sending that got the word in three tries, which is pretty good!  Maddie has been right there along with all of us, sometimes befuddled by a word or sometimes bragging about solving it so quickly, just like the rest of us.  

We had taekwondo tonight, both leadership and black belt classes, and the classes are getting pretty full.  It's great to see such a thriving comeback after the last few years of pandemic challenges and online classes and so on.  Now it seems fuller than it's ever been, and Maddie's right there in the middle of it all, helping other newer students and improving upon her own skills.  Nana and I sit there and watch while Mom has been at home sewing costuming together for Easter.  There's still so much to be done there, and it's quite stressful, which may account for the blood pressure issues. 

Anyway, tonight we read from our adventures with the Kingdom Keepers, and after that we prayed.  It was a quiet day, but some of us got Wordle in three, so it was a good day.

Great Mouse Detective Parallels

This morning's KidPak was a blast, as amongst us at the Gainesville staff, one of our favorite movies is "The Great Mouse Detective."  We had this one more service that has unexpectedly popped up in our calendar to fill - we can't do our new series because of all the Easter production plans - so we had to use the "Get a Clue" theme, and were thinking of what to do for a Sunday.  So a few weeks ago, we decided to do a message themed to "The Great Mouse Detective," knowing very much that many of these kids probably hadn't seen this movie yet.  No matter - we should them all clips from the movie itself during the service, these being shown to help illustrate the three points of our message.  Of course, this parallels what we did a few years ago for a message as well, but in both cases, it wasn't one in the book, but rather something put together as a final extra fun thing.  

It was super fun, but one of my favorite things we did was bring back the entire cast to do a wild version of the game "Guess Who?"  There were trivia questions asked, and then clues given out, and one by one, suspects were eliminated.  There were ten of us on stage, and using knowledge of the skits and looking at everyone's costumes, the audience was in a race - boys versus girls - to figure out whodunit.  Our question was, "Who stole the cheese?"  In the first service, the answer was surprising.  All the adults were taken off the suspect list, and the very last one - the guilty one who took the cheese - was Maddie!  In the second service, it was perhaps just as surprising:  it was Sherlock Holmes himself.  He explained as an apology later on, "I just really like Gouda!"

It was a fun morning at KidPak.  We got home, and had some tika masala together, and then we kept moving. Maddie was getting a shower, and then studying for a biology test.  Nana and I were off to the Tractor Supply place to get some more mealworms, because our bluebird couple is sitting there on the back deck tapping their toes impatiently waiting for a refill of mealworms that we didn't have in the house.  

Tonight's small group was good - Maddie was online with Camille and her friends for a couple hours this evening.  But after that, it became mandatory that we finish the series, "Parallels," which we did.  Firstly, and I just talk about the coincidence that we just celebrated "International French Language Day?"  The show is French, and it was really well done.  

We raced through all six episodes this weekend, after just checking out one episode to see if it was any good.  We quickly finished the other five episodes in two days.  

Time for bed was here, with of course reading first.  The Kingdom Keepers are in a spooky graveyard, attempting to uncover what's going on.  Along the way though, there seems to be a little problem there with zombies.  Yikes!

We said our prayers tonight afterwards, and we'll have to find out tomorrow about the zombies.  In the meantime, it's time to get to bed early:  tomorrow I've got a heart appointment, and Maddie's got school again.

Let's Roll Again

Maddie had a fun time at the roller skating rink today, returning there for the first time since the youth event last summer.  It was a pretty good crowd there, and I'm sure the folks that owned the roller rink were glad to see us coming - we had a KidPak event there, one we called "Kids Day Out," and a good number of kids from various campuses showed up to have a good time together on skates, and also have some of that nostalgic cardboard pizza.  

I'm not wearing skates in this particular picture, but I did get to do a lot of laps with this kid here, and I got to skate around with Maddie for a while too.  Maddie was skating with some other friends, and Camille of course.  I didn't bring the camera, but she brought her phone and was snapping a few pictures here and there.

And she let me take a few too.  You can see this one below that I took early on before everyone got on skates and before things really got started.  She had a great time!

We started out early today, as Team Edge practice was at 8:30 this morning over at the studio.  Maddie was working over there while I was discovering a new trail along Chestatee there, a bike path that was actually pretty nice through the woods.  There were a total of two other people there the time I was walking, and they were on bikes.  There were actually three deer that came right up to the path before they saw me, not really expecting any humans, and not quite sure what to do about it either.  Fortunately, everyone kept calm and we walked our separate ways.  

Maddie and I stopped by a new boba tea place to indulge in her latest obsession.  We keep trying new teas, and each time we're enjoying our choices quite a bit.  We had enough time between practice and the skating to stop at a place like that, so we did of course.

After that, Maddie and I went home, and I was pretty wiped out, obviously.  Mom has been working on costumes for the Easter production, and Nana has been making that work challenging.  I plugged in a movie downstairs as a distraction, one I've never seen before - "Song of the South."  It was actually pretty good.  I can see why it isn't available anywhere, but the character of Uncle Remus seems to be the smartest one in the cast.  Some time ago we went to the Wren's Nest, and we really had a great time learning about the history of Joel Chandler Harris and traditional stories of the South.  Anyway, I enjoyed the movie, and I'm thinking we'll probably head down to the Historic Uncle Remus museum some time in the future.

Maddie was getting a shower and doing some studying today, and after that the plan was to continue our Star Wars marathon, but we spotted this new series called "Parallels," which was apparently made in France.  It's about six episodes long, and we got caught up in one episode, then another, and so on... we'll probably finish it tomorrow night, but everyone enjoyed the ongoing story pretty much.

We got to bed later tonight, but we still made sure we read from Kingdom Keepers.  Still going on this series, over a year later.  We've got a few hundred pages to go.  We were reading about Jessie and the Fairlies, how of course she's now back in 1955 with the rest of the Kingdom Keepers.  It's been fun mandatory reading each night, a really nice tradition.  We said our prayers after that, and got to sleep early enough.  Tomorrow we've got a big day at church, so it's time for bed.  Besides, we've had a pretty energetic day early on!

Doors vs. Wheels

It was earlier this week that we got caught up in the latest internet debate, one of the most intriguing ones since the classic gold and white or black and blue dress event of 2015.  The basics of this one are more simple.  The question put forth to the world is this:  "Are there more wheels, or are there more doors?"  Obviously, only our Heavenly Father knows the answer to this Himself, and just now I'm imagining an angelic host arriving to deliver a message to someone fasting and praying for such an answer, and perhaps that answer being presented on a sacred scroll with much trumpeting and fanfare. 

Maddie is on Team Doors, although she was a former wheelie.  It's an intense debate!  Here are some points that were raised amongst our immediate group as we tussled over these quantities:

"When NOT saying doors, do you consider little doors on cameras, advent calendars, pocket watches, the Monsters Inc. Door Vault, pantries, cruise ships, dormice, cabinets, trapdoors, hotels, The Doors, pill boxes, Matthew 7:7, the Empire State Building, submarines, leprechaun traps and so on?"

"Yeah I think it could be doors. I mean, think about places outside the west where cars are not as prevalent. And like you mentioned Empire State Building...hotels....places like New York where most don’t own a car, but there’s small and large businesses everywhere...I mean just think of Free Chapel alone!

...doors.

And yes, cabinet doors count."

"....Although toys certainly bring up the number of wheels... 🤔

....I’m probably sticking with doors though..."

"Well there are toys to think about with wheels because there are definitely over a billion hot wheels created, but also just the fact that we are going to a roller rink today, the amount of wheels there are insane, plus, free chapel may have a lot of doors but almost every one of our chairs has 4 wheels on them

Plus, at this point in the world, there aren’t many areas where cars aren’t prevalent, they’re used everywhere, but with things like drawers in kitchens have two wheels that movie the drawer back and forth, and then there are sliding doors, how do we even count those? Lol"

"Also in favor of wheels, there are those roller skating rinks, eighteen-wheelers, bicycles, Hot Wheels, Rhoenrad wheels, tire factories, trains, motorcycles, Ezekiel 1:16, unicycles, wheelbarrows, and any sliding drawer or door usually has a few wheels.  However, I think if we go by the true definition of simple machines, which a wheel is one of, then you can’t consider round objects that actually work as pulleys.  So gondola towers and certain elevator parts are not wheels, but rather pulleys.  If gears are considered wheels (there is some debate on that), then that obviously greatly increases the wheel count.  However, that may be countered by doors found in nature, created by animals like trapdoors spiders and certain kinds of fish that burrow in the ground and have their entrances protected by small rocks that operate as doors."  

"Pro-doors:  There are millions of marine vessels that do not have tires, but only pulleys for their fishing nets.  No wheels. There are just as many doors (cabinet and walk-through) in our house, which I believe when counted up will be more than the wheels found in our house.  Hot Wheels and roller rinks tend to lean the argument towards wheels, but then houses, cruise ships, hotels clearly have more doors than wheels.  And again, my camera has two hinged doors in it:  one for a battery and one for the memory card.  How many products are out there that have small plastic doors on them for batteries, games, or memory cards?  Do those outnumber toy cars?  Possibly."

"If we’re counting memory card holders as doors the pulleys have wheels, also every almost every hotel room tends to have office chairs that have 4 wheels and cleaning carts with wheels, I just can’t stand with the doors, hot wheels alone pretty much beats the world."

"I feel like an inventory of all wheels and doors could be a super effective way of stopping war and unifying the world in one hallowed purpose."

"Let's not forget that almost every four wheel car has five doors including the trunk."

"I also saw another video about how wheels get replaced all the time, when was the last time you replaced a door?  Not counting josh who is renovating a house.  Every semi truck has only 3 doors right?  Lol this is too much fun!"

"All I’m saying is that Jesus told us to knock on something, and it ain’t a wheel."

So this is the current debate that is raging all over the world, which is a lot more fun than taking about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, rising gas prices, record inflation, or any of the other tragedies ongoing throughout the globe.  It makes you want to get on a set of wheels and roll out the door.

So tonight we saw "The Empire Strikes Back," which I first saw in a theater at a birthday party last century.  I remember going to an arcade and then going off to see the movie, and I remember having a debate with others the next day as to which was better, "Star Wars" or "The Empire Strikes Back."  At the time, I was leaning towards the original movie, only because that made me sound more sophisticated.  However, I'm fairly certain the actual answer is "The Empire Strikes Back," not only for the debate between these two movies, but also the best Star Wars movie of them all.  In fact, it is one of my favorite movies ever.  We sat and watched the latest version of it online tonight, and just soaked it all in.  Such a great movie.

This morning, we had so many Bibles show up.  Once again, a super generous guy donated thousands and thousands of dollars in Bibles to KidPak, with the hope that we'll hand them all out on Easter.  That we'll do - every child that comes on Easter gets a free Bible again.  Just as they did last year.  We carried all these Bibles in to a place where they could be stored until Easter.  We pray that this man's children and his children's children will rise up and call him blessed.

We were out buying fabric today for the costuming for the Easter production, amongst other things.  It's super, super stressful right now.  There are so many loose ends and fluid changes going on and so much to be done, that my blood pressure is remaining at a much higher place than it needs to be.  I need a good night's rest.

It's cooler weather outside, even though it's spring.  We have to get up early tomorrow, so we got to bed earlier.  Still, we made sure we read about Charlene and Amanda and the other Kingdom Keepers, and then we said our prayers and went off to sleep for the night.

Pungent Stench

We're going through season two of "The Chosen" rather quickly.  These latest two episodes have featured Simon the Zealot, and it's been pretty awesome looking a bit more closely at some of these apostles we only know from their first names.  This show examines realistically what a zealot was, or why tax collectors were so hated, or why Nicodemus was sneaking in at night to listen to Jesus.  These episodes are just amazing to sit and watch - we might just sit and watch them all over again after we get through the first time.

Tonight there was taekwondo, and a good bit of it.  Some of it involved kamas.  Other parts involved younger students being taught.  Maddie's leadership class followed another class where she helps the instructors with the younger students.  While that was going on, we were doing a bit of grocery shopping, and we really filled that grocery cart up tonight, as we haven't really been in a few weeks.  We got a lot of stuff.  

The weather is cooler outside, and just when everyone was ready for spring to step in and make a big deal of itself.  It's technically spring outside right now, but it's the cooler side of spring, the one where you still have to wear long-sleeved shirts and even jackets at night.  The opossums are still visiting at night in multitude, tromping around the back deck and enjoying the feast of leftovers that Mom puts out for them.  During the daytime, we have plenty of bird visitors too.  Of course, we have two pairs of bluebirds, two couples that live in two houses we have, one in the front yard and the other in the back yard.  But we have a whole lot of other bird visitors, including some new ones - including Yellow Rumped Warblers that have discovered our food source on the back deck.  We have the hummingbird feeder out there, and there are plenty of confirmed sightings in South Georgia, but not here yet.  Mom can't wait for that, of course.

One other thing that's outside is the pollen, of course.  And the Bradford pear trees are stirring up small stink storms.  But the freezing weather we had a few weeks ago may have done some damage to a lot of the blossoms on the trees, and the stench isn't quite as pungent lately.

Pungent Stench.  I remember them.  A long time ago, my friends and I were driving through Rapid City, and there was this college radio station or something, and I was first introduced to the insanely weird world of death metal.  We were laughing so hard, listening to this noise and all the screaming, and then there was a different song next, and it was called "Pulsating Protoplasm" by the band Pungent Stench.  And we're thinking, "This has to be a joke!"  I mean, it sounds like a sincere attempt to come up with something designed to get a laugh, and then the music sounds designed to sound as if someone's leg got caught in a lawnmower.  Since then, of course, I've discovered that death metal is an actual thing.  And there is an audience, a group of people out there atet actually enjoy listening to people scream and abuse musical instruments.

I'm guessing that Maddie won't like death metal music.  At least I hope not.  Anyway, tonight we read from our book once more, which did not feature death metal, although there are gravediggers, so there might be a pungent stench or two.  And funny enough, we always have this back-and-forth as we say goodnight each evening.  "You smell."  "Smell you later!"  "Good night, Stinky-pants."  "Good night, Lord Stinkington III."  And so on... one night, I might as well add "Pungent Stench" to the mix...

We said our prayers after that, and soon after that, we were all fast asleep, as opossums thrashed and banged their heads outside on our back deck.

Slam Dunk

Maddie went to a slam dunk contest tonight, and although I'd like to say she came in first place, this picture above was really just taken with a ladder.  I set one up beforehand and took pictures of a few people on top of the ladder, posing them as if they were about to, or were in the middle of a slam dunk in basketball.

It was a beautiful night tonight, the storm clouds rolling away and the weather still nice and warm outside.  Students were starting to arrive to FCY, where this event has been advertised a few weeks.  You can see Camille here, also scoring two points.

And Pastor Hamilton below is making the most important points of all...

In between, he was sharing the gospel with the students, some who had been invited to this event and don't normally go to church.  But even outside in a place without pews or church organs, there were still hands raised when an offer for prayer was put forth for salvation.  You can see Maddie above in the picture, and you can also see the shaved ice truck that was providing flavored shaved ice for all of us. 

As for the dunking, it was pretty fun to watch.  Maddie enjoyed it, as did all the other students there too.  Even Pastor Hamilton tried a real dunk or two, getting involved in the "veteran's competition."

Pastor Lance was a judge tonight, but he did get involved too...

Yeah, that's a photo with the ladder too.  Anyway, it was a fun night.  One would say it was a "slam dunk."

An Evening with Dr. Edith Eger

 

Tonight we attended a virtual evening with a Holocaust survivor named Dr. Edith Eger, and it was unforgettable.  Maddie heard about this event earlier, and as she's super interested in that period of time and the plight of the Jewish people, she just had to go.  Her friends were there too, and of course we all went along as well, as this was a unique opportunity.  We arrived at the FoCal Center in Cumming, a new facility that had a good number of people filling in the seats to hear her speak.  A moderator was present to speak to her over an online call, which you can see above on the big screen, and the guided questions brought out stories from the past that were horrifying, and important for everyone to hear.  It was also inspiring to hear this woman's life, seeing where she came from, and what she went through, but also seeing what she was able to do with a life that was meant to be snuffed out forever.  We could sit there and listen for as long as she wanted to talk, which turned out to be roughly an hour and a half or so.  We got there a little early, so it was a longer night, but it was a nice place and we really were glad we went tonight.  Maddie enjoyed it quite a bit.

It was a good day today, as we read and prayed and went about our daily routines at school and at work.  We went to bed tonight with a sense of gratitude about what we're blessed with, and how blessed our lives have been.

Free Ice Cream Day 2022

It's Free Ice Cream Cone Day, and what a glorious day it is.  What a happy thing a free serving of ice cream is!  After taekwondo, we all went over to the Dairy Queen, and there we asked for our free ice cream.  The three of us were savoring that delicious sweet snack today, a nice little blessing to help lift the day somewhat.

Maddie had taekwondo outside for a bit tonight, although the students were also inside too.  It was a two-class night, where the students were doing leadership and then black belt class too.  The students are practicing throwing their kamas about, a tricky little move, but Maddie's getting better at it.

We were working on our "Good News" booklets today, pretty much finishing them up.  It's going to be a good series, once I can stop and focus on it somewhat.  We've ordered some satchels for all the younger actors to carry around their newspapers in, and soon the world will know.  Yes, I used that phrase intentionally.  At one point to introduce the devotional on a page between the sermons and the devotional, I had to write something up today that worked as a transitional page.  Here's what I wrote up:

     Brooklyn’s here, but so are all the Newsies, those tough street kids who sell newspapers from New York to Santa Fe and even all the way across the globe in Jerusalem!  
     Can you imagine selling a paper back in the day, over two thousand years ago?  That’s rich, just thinking about carrying the banner from the Western Wall to the Eastern Gate of Jerusalem.

     You don’t just sell those papes though.  You get to read them too!  What follows are some above-the-fold headline stories about something to believe in.  Follow the story of Jesus each day with this daily devotional and just watch what happens.  
     Once and for all, the world will know the bottom line:  Jesus is not just king of New York, but the King of kings!  He loves you dearly and never planned on you missing out on His love.  So seize the day, and read the latest headlines about Jesus.  With Him, it’s all Good news!  

Fans of the series "Newsies" may be able to recognize that within the words above are every song title from the musical.  We start in a few weeks - I've got a lot of other things going on, but hopefully we can make this a super fun series no one will forget!

The rest of our day was spent doing homework, watching "The Chosen," reading "Kingdom Keepers" again, and then prayer - it was a good day, but most days that feature free ice cream usually are.

French Language Day

Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars had a fantastic morning, with a super funny type of skit we do from time to time.  It's a mad-lib, and there's a whole lot of improv involved, as the audience fills in the blanks of the story with ridiculous words that the cast members do their best to act out.  For example, at one point, the Baker Street Irregulars were doing a dance the audience came up with the title for:  The Sputtering Fat Chinese Boar Dance.  It was certainly an odd dance!  There was a lot of fun to be had with the skit, a little break from our ongoing serials and stories, and something quite ridiculous at points for sure.

It was a long day at church, as after the second service - which went late upstairs - there was an audition for certain parts of the upcoming church production.  We were needing some Roman soldiers and apostles, but we had all kinds of people showing up, and it was an amusing audition at points.  We went to our latest addiction afterwards, a place to get Bubble tea, where both Maddie and I ordered some dragon fruit green, which we both agreed was really good.  We drank that on the way home, and couldn't wait to eat:  Mom had something ready for us.  I had this wonderful pistachio crusted fish dinner today, something Mom makes from time to time that is simply delicious.

I took a little Sunday nap after that while Maddie got a shower.  Soon enough though, Maddie was with her online small group, which of course has now moved to Sundays.  They usually do a game, and since last year, the small group's game has been related to whatever the random holiday was for today.  Well, here's the holiday:

So we had a few French phrases that the small group had to translate, using multiple choice answers.  This game was one of my favorites to put together, as I was laughing the entire time:

I'm not sure who won tonight, but Maddie had a good time with it.  She enjoyed her small group time, and then afterwards, we were continuing our Star Wars marathon with a viewing of "A New Hope," the newer version that features "MacClunky!"  Also, Obi Wan's scream was updated too.  I think there are some other things in there too.  With all the crazy "Legends" back story material going on, I wondered if someone wrote a back story for that rolling black dome robot at the Jawas' sand crawler, and sure enough, the droid has a name and a future.

Meet LIN-V8K.  I'm a Star Wars nerd, and I never thought to look anything up about this random robot.  But here I am now, and you're probably going to be delighted to learn that according to the Star Wars Legends, this robot escaped the Imperial attack on the sand crawler by being rescued by a Squib.

Nothing else is written about this droid.  Other than LIN-V8K is "used for mining operations. He planted explosives on rocks to clear a path in mines. He could see through radiation, fog and even sand and light ground fill. He was found by Jawas on Tatooine at an abandoned military garrison."

What's amazing about this is that every single random character in Star Wars - especially the ones who just randomly run by for about one second of screen time - has a back story.  I'm looking at you Willrow Hood.  Most of these back stories have been removed from canon recently, and are now something called "Legends," so a lot of back stories are still around, but not recognized as canon anymore.  That being said, LIN-V8K has no story at all, which is sad.  

I think there's a lot of potential for an adventure starting LIN-V8K.  Obviously, his vision and explosives are a huge and exciting asset.  One could imagine the Stormtroopers looking into the sand crawler on Tatooine.  It's dark in there, and one by one they're picked off by something in the darkness - something large and rolling around quite fast.  Four troopers are taken out before the others begin to retreat, only to realize too late that in their hasty exit, they are triggering a series of well-placed landmines.  LIN-V8K is by this point rolling over a nearby sand dune, having used explosives to blow a hole in the side of the sand crawler for an easy escape.  But he is not above looking backwards to watch the massive explosion.  The sand crawler is greatly damaged, but several of those stormtroopers were vaporized.  LIN-V8K had inner thoughts that could only be computed as satisfaction, knowing these stormtroopers paid for their attack on those Jawas.  But where to next for this intrepid LIN demolitionmech droid?  Fortunately, LIN-V8K didn't wander too long across the barren landscape before he found what he was scanning for:  an abandoned escape pod that had been previously jettisoned by some CR90 corvette.  Quickly rolling into it and sealing the hatch, LIN-V8K blasted off the planet Tatooine to then resume his career as a highly paid bounty hunter.

Seriously, this is what someone would have written about a black rolling dome.  Later on, of course, LIN-V8K would run into a Ewok friend who left the forest moon of Endor to secretly train to be a jedi, and the two of them would join the Rebellion in battling the Empire in the Battle of the Second Death Star, before falling in love and going on secret missions for Luke Skywalker.  

ANYWAY, we read tonight afterwards, moving on with our newest and final Kingdom Keepers book, and after that we prayed, and rolled off to bed like LIN-V8K.

FIVE-Leaf Clover

Mom found a super rare item in the back yard today:  a five-leaf clover.  We looked this up online afterwards and found that the odds of such a find were about one in a million.  Which are actually the same odds as Luke Skywalker hitting that thermal exhaust port on the Death Star.  Also, looked up what it means to find a five-leaf clover, given that finding a four-leaf clover generally means good luck.  The answer is even more good luck, and money too.  We'll be happy to get both.  As I understand it, a small organization of leprechauns in Ireland is responsible for sending out luck and other prizes, so we'll be expecting that in the mail any day now, with lots of excitement.

Speaking of all things Irish, I had postponed the St. Patrick's Day Escape Room idea I made up until today, when we had a little more time.  You can see Maddie and Mom working to solve some puzzles so they could escape Lucky the Leprechaun's room, by finding the four digits of a padlock that prevented their escape.  Would they make it in time?

It was a fun little exercise, and the girls had a good time trying it out.  It took them about a half-hour to get through it, and once they got the gist of things, they were off and running, looking for the clues that would enable their escape.  Soon enough, Maddie was triumphantly putting that last digit in place, the one that gave them their freedom from the escape room.

This morning before all this, we were over at the studio again, this time for Team Edge practice.  It's starting up earlier next week, and on top of that every week from this point on.  Maddie was with the others, practicing choreography and even still trying new maneuvers that she's not been able to before.

We had a calmer day today, one where we were doing yard work outside for a while, moving things around and getting leaves gone.  It was cooler outside, and sunny too.  Perfect weather.  We were planting and putting down mulch, and here we go again, getting the back yard looking nicer.  Mom's got big plans for a few areas, so we'll see how things progress as the year moves along.  I do know I have to get more mulch again...

Tonight we were reading the last book in the Kingdom Keepers series, or at least the last one for now.  After that, it was time for prayers, and time for bed.  We've got another big day at church tomorrow!

Rock City Bluebirds

Another bluebird couple has moved in, so now we have some friends in the front yard as well as the back yard too.  The food supply has been constant and the neighbors all seem friendly, so this nice couple took the plunge and decided to move up to this more upscale neighborhood.  I mean, it's either this or actually live in trees, right? 

It is Friday, which meant scurrying around a bit tonight. We were off to leadership and taekwondo tonight, first visiting with the leadership class and twirling around kamas.  Maddie is still learning new tricks with the kamas, and is already getting pretty good with them.  She's used these before, but she's still getting some new skills as the classes progress.  

Tonight we were watching "Han Solo," although I was off doing a bit of work for KidPak at one point.  I'm still getting that together for this weekend, plus all the other things that are going on.  It's definitely a busy season, and it's been certainly taxing on my health.  It's either that or the pollen.  The weather outside has been chillier, although when the sun comes out in the afternoon, it's this perfect blend of sunlight warmth and cool breezes.  

The other side of the world is not so pleasant.  This should be terrifying, of course.  In previous generations, we would be terrified, as we had leaders that seemed willing and able to escalate things.  Currently, we have one leader who is willing to escalate things while the rest of the world watches on in disbelief.  It's like a lot of things going on lately in the world, with people doing outrageous and harmful things to others with no one actually doing anything to stop them. 

Anyway, we finished our penultimate Kingdom Keepers book tonight, and it appears as if Amanda and Jess are going back in time to join the Keepers in one final adventure in 1955.  Again, that's the same year Marty McFly made his journey, only a little bit later.  If the Keepers hang around, maybe they could meet up.  Maddie is ready to hear the final book start tomorrow, and ready to see what's going on with this weird Maleficent Zombie.  Which is pretty amazing, actually.  I mean, what does that even look like?  I suppose we'll have to wait until this next book to find out.  I remember reading this, but I actually don't remember what happens next, so it's been kind of fun in that respect.  We'll see tomorrow!

St. Patrick's Day 2022

A new green shirt was recently made available at Edge ATA, so not too long ago I picked on up to leave for Maddie as a surprise on St. Patrick's Day.  She walked down the stairs and saw that along with the the leprechauns at the table greeting her with the usual "Top o' the morning to ya!"  And yes, there was the bowl of Lucky Charms there, although I think that's more for me...

She wore her green, a Mickey Mouse St. Patrick's Day shirt she's had, but the ratio of green-wearing students greatly decreases over time.  She said about 10% of the students were wearing green today, although when she was in the theater class, there were a lot more people wearing green there.  Creative people, right?  

I was at a middle school today, as we've been doing each Thursday.  We're heading over there after school to host something called "Bible Blast," and yes, in middle school, about 90% of the kids were solid green, with ribbons, pins and even make-up.  It was a fun time.  We're doing that each week now, and it was great to hand this one kid a new Bible.  I saw him the week before carrying a smaller one, a little one they print out with just the New Testament in it.  I gave him a big one, something donated by a really generous guy a year ago to give away to all the kids that came on Easter.  He's doing it again this year, which is amazing.  His generosity is still living on, as that boy was pretty happy to get his new Bible.

Tonight Maddie wore her new green shirt to taekwondo, as did a few others.  Master Edge had a few new songs in the playlist as the kids worked out, all of them from the Dropkick Murphys.  It was a fun night.  When we got home, we had the Chieftain records playing and Mom had a delicious Irish feast waiting for us, the usual corn beef and cabbage with potatoes.  

It was a pleasant day.  I have a St. Patrick's Day-themed escape room that I planned for last night for the extended family too, but tonight was kind of late, so we'll probably just do that on Saturday with Mom and Maddie.  It'll be fun.

As always, we read tonight, and we prayed afterwards.  It was a pleasant day today.  

FCY Tonight

 

FCY was on again tonight, and it was a larger scale evening at the Gainesville Campus because we had a guest speaker, a former NFL player that was here to talk to the teens from all the campuses that could attend.  So the Georgia campuses came in shuttles and buses, and of course we weren't that far away, so Maddie came to be there and join in on things.

It was a full day, and a late night too.  We're super busy at the office, getting ready for so many things.  We've got our Easter production, a new campus opening this weekend, a skating event coming up, and we're frantically working on this new series we're hoping to have wrapped up in just a few weeks, at least from the book angle.  We've got a big banner designed, and we're writing the devotional still.  It's challenging to get it done in time, but we're happy to face it because we don't want the month of April to be just "filler" until we get to May's series, "Kung Pow."  We're doing a new series called "Good News," and it's going to be really fun.

The pollen is here.  The Bradford pears in our yard, and those at the martial arts studio too, are super smelly.  It's a wonderfully awful stench, so pungent and strong.  This is that time of year where we pray for rain more often, if only to drive the pollen and stench down and clear the air somewhat.

We read tonight and we prayed too.  It was a decent day, but it's time to get a good night's rest.

The Ides of March

Above you can see one of the early costuming ideas Mom was putting together for the apostles for our upcoming production.  She's found this material and sewed it all together as such, although we're thinking of having ga different sort of fabric for that outer layer.  That'll require us heading out to do a bit of shopping though, which we plan on doing soon.  Lots of fabric to get.

Well, today is the Ides of March, which is generally a day to beware of if you're a Shakespeare person.  Maddie has been reading Romeo and Juliet lately, but that's about it for Shakespeare thus far.  Although I do have that Star Wars book that is a translation of the first movie as if the entire thing were a Shakespearean play.  It's pretty fun.
 

Mom got her wish with wanting to see some bluebirds nearby - we have a pair living in the church building in the back yard, and a pair in the front yard too, one living in the See Rock City birdhouse.  The attraction to our area may be the specific food we put out for them on the back deck.  Both houses are very close to a constant source of food - we've purchased gobs and there's a water dish there that the bluebird mom has been a big fan of lately.  The bluebirds love the grubs, setting up their base of operations there pretty much all day long.  The drawback may be that the mom is a combination of aggressive and well... let's just say she's not as bright as other birds perhaps.  She apparently sees her reflection in our windows and gets pretty territorial at that point, frequently wanting to attack that reflection to drive it away.  It started at our larger windows at the side, but moved to the kitchen window in front of the sink, which is easy enough to discourage.  Occasionally, it's at the bathroom window upstairs, which makes me wonder where the bird was perching in the first place to see such a reflection.  Anyway, just a note about bluebirds:  they don't like seeing their reflections.

Maddie had a good day at school.  I think.  We got on time as usual, which is quite a bit different from previous years at school where she'd want to get there super early.  I'll get a text every so often about the amount of tries it took to get the correct word in the online game called "Wordle."  She's with the small group online that includes me and other church friends, and each day we encourage each other or brag about how few guesses it takes to guess the word.  The words are five letters long, but it can be surprisingly challenging, particularly if you want to guess it in three attempts.  Usually I get it in four, as luck has a lot to do with it too.

Tonight we were watching "The Chosen" as well as an episode or two of that animated series, "Big Hero 6," which I've been wanting to see lately.  I still like cartoons, okay?  Anyway, we read tonight as always, and we said our prayers afterwards.  Meanwhile, the opossums were visiting the deck as they've been doing every night. Mom leaves them a visually enticing feast, and it's like a fine dining experience out there.  We were off to sleep tonight fairly quickly - got another big day tomorrow!

π Day 2022

Today was Pi Day, and I'm proud to say that Maddie knows quite a few digits of pi, at least more than the average person I suspect.  We can each get to 3.1415926535897 off the top of our heads, and have collectively decided that this is far enough at the moment.

Of course, one of the most important ways to celebrate Pi Day is by actually having a pie, which was actually a bit of a chore, as I spent more time in about four different grocery stores looking for gluten free graham cracker pie crust.  But find it I did!  I was happy to see that Publix had pies on sale for $3.14, and although we couldn't eat those pies, I did see what you did there, Publix.  Anyway, tonight we sat down together after dinner to celebrate this momentous day by enjoying a pie that Mom made for everyone, one with leftovers that would be in our lunches the next 3.1415926535897 days.

We had taekwondo tonight, which included leadership and the black belt class.  Maddie is starting to use a new weapon for this season, or at least one that she hasn't used in a while:  the kamas.  That sounds like a pretty cool band name, actually:  The Kamas.  Anyway, she was just starting to appreciate the sword a bit more too, but she'll be back swinging that sword again soon enough.  For now, the kamas are the weapon of choice.

We're doing a lot of work with KidPak, even outside of work hours.  I'm still writing a lot towards this new series, including this new devotional.  We're also working towards Easter, which is inflating and expanding in the usual concerning way where we start asking ourselves the usual question, "Why didn't we start planning this earlier?"  It's all very stressful, which of course isn't ideal for my current condition.  My blood pressure has elevated lately, and that's concerning too.

We read tonight from our Kingdom Keepers book, and we're approaching the end.  A guy named Amery Hollingsworth is responsible for creating the Overtakers, or at least for bringing them to life, and it all started years ago.  Or maybe it started years ago?  I'm not sure if it will have been stopped by the Kingdom Keepers or not, and if it is stopped, does that mean it ever happened to begin with?  Time travel stories are so confusing, but we're sticking with this one as it approaches the end.  Just one more book to go after this one, and it's actually kind of a bittersweet moment.

After that we were saying our prayers, and it was time for bed.  We lugged all the extra plush friends that listen to our story time back down to her room, and that's where the intricate "tucking in" process continues, a black blanket first, followed by the two pink ones side by side, and then the sheet and two blankets on top after that.  It must be precisely this way each night, or there will be no rest I tell you!

We got to sleep after this, counting sheep or at least counting digits for pi... 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067... zzzz...

National Open an Umbrella Indoors Day

It's National Open an Umbrella Indoors Day today, so you can see Maddie is armed and ready to celebrate.  I had a game made up for her small group tonight, one that started today on Sunday in its first appearance since the move from Wednesday.  

She enjoyed her time with small group tonight, and yes, she had an umbrella open inside.  Looking up the reason why this day is what it is, apparently the overview is that it's a day to test out superstitious beliefs and so forth.  As to why people think it's bad luck to open an umbrella inside your house, this was an interesting quote I just found:

There is some suggestion that ancient Egyptians thought it offended the gods to open an umbrella where there was already shade.

So there you go.  Not entirely sure if it's true, but the entire thing sounds odd to begin with, so why not?  

Anyway, it was a fun day today - we had our wrap-up to our "Get a Clue" story this morning with two fantastic skits.  These involved all our younger actors too, including Maddie of course, and it was just a fun morning and a really great ongoing series.  We had so much fun these last eight weeks with this story, with such a talented cast. 

We did a tiny bit of grocery shopping, and yes, there were still a few items on the list that weren't available because of supply chain issues.  But we stopped by for some bubble tea, and then headed home for a nice lunch with Nana and Mom, who were already working on Easter costumes for apostles.  There was a spaghetti break, and after that some studying for Maddie.  But there was also time for "Battlefront II" as well.  We went back to Hoth, and after watching "Episode III" last night, we were back on Mustafar as well.  So there was a little time for fun too.

We closed out the day with a few more chapters of Kingdom Keepers, and then prayers as well.  I was watching "Lincoln" today, part of this big history push of late.  Maddie was in bed at that time, off to sleep on time so she can get up early for school again tomorrow.

Sudden Chill!

Winter is not quite through with us yet!  Today the temperatures plunged downward, and as the temperature shift happened not long after a bit of precipitation, we were able to see some more snow flurries.  This is actually only the second time we've seen snow this year, and of course none of it stuck to the ground.  But it was still nice to see the white flakes falling from the skies.  We had the bird feeders loaded up, and with the colder temperatures we had all kinds of visitors today.  Squirrels, all manner of birds, our neighborhood cat, and even the opossums later on.  The cat wanted somewhere to stay inside for a good part of the day, so he found the couch and the sunlight coming in the window, and that was that for the cat.  

It was an indoors sort of day, of course.  No yard work on a day like today.  The winds were gusting so much - upwards of 25mph or so - that the forecasters said it would feel like something in the twenties out there.  So no thank you on yard work.  In fact, we didn't really go anywhere either.  What else is new, of course, given our current resident.  

Mom spent some time with costuming, and I was writing for the new series.  Maddie was studying, and Nana was watching Paralympic curling, I think.  We did watch "Episode III" tonight, part of the revisit to the Star Wars movies.  It's partly inspired by Maddie's recent visit to Galaxy's Edge, and also inspired by the new series upcoming based on Obi Wan Kenobi.  

We had a lot of lines to study tonight, and we had to get to bed an hour earlier too, as Daylight Savings Time is back tomorrow.  With the temperature so cold outside, no one is looking forward to getting up an hour earlier.  But KidPak should be super fun, and we're certainly excited about that.

Anyway, we read from our Kingdom Keepers book tonight, and we're less than a hundred pages away from finishing the penultimate book, or at least the current penultimate book in the series.  Twelve books has taken us slightly over a year, and it's been a fun ride.  Maddie can't wait to hear each night, and her entourage feels the same way, Putnam and the rest of the plush friends.  They're all lined up on the bed, alongside the one that keeps me company each night, a plush poop emoji that has stayed by my side since the hospital visit.

We said our prayers, and got to sleep a little more quickly tonight.  It's so cold again outside, and that's so surprising, given that we were getting used to the spring weather and the gradually ascending temperatures.  Soon, spring will come back and push those cold temps away.  But until then, we had the fire roaring in the fireplace one more time tonight, and that's a nice consolation.

Getting Chilly

 

It's chili inside, and it's getting chilly outside too!  This is just a small sample of the amazing lunch that Mom packs for both Maddie and myself each day.  Today's entree was a serving of chili which came with optional toppings of cheese, sour cream and some green onions too.  It was the perfect thing for lunch today, given the cooler weather outside.  It's only going to get colder as things go on.  The wind is about to pick up in a major way too.  We've postponed certain outdoor plantings and activities until the weekend is over, not even putting our hose out until after this freezing cold weather has passed.  

We were at the chiropractor today, and something fun happened.  All these years, Maddie hides.  Every single visit, she hides, ever since the very beginning.  She hears the Doc Williams coming down the hall towards the room, and she hides somewhere different in the room, and of course he knows she's supposed to be in the room.  Nevertheless, when he comes in, he acts as if he's forgotten she's supposed to be here and starts even asking the question, "Where's Maddie?"  At which point, she usually jumps out with a ferocious "Boo!"

So this time around, the shoe was on the other foot.  Maddie walked into the room first, and underneath one of the beanbags in the room was Doc Williams, who suddenly jumped up with a big "Boo!"  It made Maddie jump and it was absolutely perfect.  We had a great visit today, all of us, a good adjustment that was a bit overdue.

I was doing a good bit of KidPak prep today, and when we got home I was still at it somewhat.   We've got one more week of our "Get a Clue" story this Sunday, and one more message from the book, although there are two more weekends of the series now.  

I'm glad I got to work in a little from this "Sherlock Gnomes" movie.  I was on the fence about watching it again, and I just felt a nudge to go ahead and check it out again.  I'm glad I did.  I was working on one more message for next weekend, a new one based on sidekicks and Dr. Watson.  The following Sunday we'll probably do a message based on The Great Mouse Detective, which makes me super happy, of course.

Tonight we had some of the Shamrock Swirl that I picked up from the grocery store last week.  I had a few pints of it in the freezer, and we all got to try it - I got Mom some regular green mint and chocolate chip ice cream too, so everyone could join in on the St. Patrick's Day fun.  We were also listening to some Irish vinyl!  I've got a somewhat growing collection, including a few Chieftains records that I had playing while we were eating and getting settled at home.  

Tonight's feature was "Turning Red," the latest Pixar flick, which we enjoyed while the wind just roared outside.  It's going to be chilly tomorrow for sure!