Night to Shine

Tonight was our Night to Shine event, which was just remarkable really.  It was a night to celebrate people with special needs, something like a prom - a big dance.  It was a big party.  We had limousine rides, and a long red carpet with lots of people along the way cheering and taking photos.  We had the dance itself and music, and we had karaoke as well, which you can see above.  And you can see the cheering crowd below:

Daddy was there amongst the cheering audience, but serving as a emcee of sorts, announcing the next singers and letting everyone know what songs they'd be singing.  It was super fun, although Daddy's voice was super raw by evening's end.

It was a memorable event.  It was several hours long, or at least we were working there for that long.  But the end result was in fact a celebration of people who perhaps are not celebrated too often.  It was very much something we all need to do more often, and Daddy was glad to play a small part in that.

So it was cold today, but not the deluge of rain we had yesterday.  In fact, the rain was passing by quickly and was nearly gone - but not fast enough.  We got to see as the temperature dropped, the very last bits of rain turn to snow flurries, and lots of snow flurries.  It swirled around on the road, not accumulating, but still something nice to see.  We haven't seen snow since 2017 - not even a flake.  So today was nice.  The funny thing is that not even in the forecast was what they are expecting tomorrow:  real accumulations of snow.  Apparently, there was enough of a variation in the speed of an approaching front of something - whatever it is, how wonderful.  Daddy was literally praying for just a bit of snow, at least some to go out and play in.  It was December 8, 2017 when we last got to do that, and I didn't even really pray for a day off of work or whatever.  We just wanted to play in teh snow.  And tomorrow, we may get that.  I'll believe it when I see it, of course.  But more than one source seems rather confident we'll see some accumulations mid morning tomorrow.

Speaking of long odds, Madison had her math quiz on probability today.  She also had something on sentence structure, and did some work with Photoshop.  She got to school an hour early for a math study session, and Daddy gave her money for a Chick-Fil-A breakfast sandwich.  They sell those on Friday mornings, and she's grown attached to these lately.

We did some reading tonight, and watched an episode or two of "Kickin' It."  And then we prayed.  There is a lot going on lately, and a lot of people to pray for, including Mommy at the moment:  she's been showing some symptoms of a strong cold.  We went to sleep tonight, hoping to wake up to snowflakes in the morning.  We'll see...!

Photoshopping

This is Madison's first Photoshop assignment, and as you can see here, she merged a picture of pumpkins with some tree foliage in the background.  It looks as if the sunlight is filtering through, illuminating the pumpkins somewhat.  She did a decent job with this, and yes, she's just getting started on it.

We woke up this morning, and there were tornado warnings.  Additionally, there's flooding and three inches of rain on average expected in certain areas.  Pictures of the flooding in Tennessee is scary, and all that is down here too.  Lake Lanier is at full pool, I think, or at least it appears that way.  The rain keeps coming, and it doesn't look like it will end for a little while, at least.

Madison was doing jumping kicks in taekwondo, or something like that.  Getting home, we didn't have time for anything much beyond dinner:  she had to study for a math quiz tomorrow.  But she had a great time in taekwondo, and is really moving forward with her training.  She's going to move up one belt color the first week of March, and by the end of summer, we'll be at the next belt color.  Then, we should be approaching a black belt some time before high school.  It goes by quickly!  She's training hard though, and is really into it.  She enjoys time with her friends there too, laughing and learning, and staying fit and prepared.  She's always talking about things on the way home, about this or that.  Daddy sits with the moms and dads and watches on, and I've been seeing a lot of progress.

Mommy was still sick today, really just spending the day sleeping.  Madison's cousin has the same thing apparently - the dominant symptom of this one seems to be fatigue.  We'll have to keep an eye on it.  We prayed for Mommy, and we prayed for everyone else who is struggling with sickness this season.  The weather is yucky outside, but on the plus side, the blankets are warm.

Daddy was at the school today, and other than that we were setting things up for our various services upcoming.  Tomorrow night is a big event for people with special needs, and we're prepping for that as well.  It's going to be a big weekend.  Hopefully Mommy will be okay through it all...

Dressed for Success

Today, Madison was "Dressed for Success," which I didn't quite understand at first.  Madison was in her high heels this morning going to school, and it was perplexing.  I found out about the "dressed for success" part a little later, and had to backpedal on my suggestion to wear something more comfortable to school.  I mean, why?  Ah, she's dressed for success, that's why!  She did bring some back-up shoes, and only wore the high heel shoes at certain times.  But wearing those around in a school and it's raining and ... well, that must have been challenging.  I know I couldn't do it.  Yep, you won't ever see me wearing high heels.  No, sir!

Madison and Mommy both have sore throats, although Mommy seems to have the worse end of the thing, with a little fatigue thrown into the mix.  She got some rest today once we got home, although to begin with, she and Daddy were spending a great deal of time cleaning up our office.  It looks amazing, and we'll be fighting to keep it that way!

In other news, today was the official end of the circus we call the "impeachment process."  After months of obvious political posturing, the inevitable answer came out today:  not guilty.  the President was acquitted.  The vote on one charge was 53-47, and the other was 52-48.  One Senator from Utah voted against party lines, but we knew he was going to do that three years ago before these charges even came up.  So now it's all over, and we can hopefully find something else to viciously argue about and show everyone on earth how not to be a leader.

Moving on, Daddy had the new Valentine's Day cards made, using pictures from "Frozen 2," which of course goes with our new series coming out soon.  The other campuses are handing these out on Sunday, and we'll have these for next Wednesday night's service, just before Valentine's Day.

So yes, we're getting ready for "Frozen" here, which led to this terrible joke Daddy did to a few people on their phones:

The night went well, our last night of the "All Aboard" series.  At one point, a photographer from the church came in, and you can see a picture of the front row.  Notice how there were only a few boys on the boys' side.  The girls' side was full!

It made for a funny game segment, because the girls clearly outnumbered those boys.  But it was a fun night.

We read tonight, and prayed tonight, and quite early for all of us, it was time for bed:  we're under the weather somewhat.  We're resting tonight, going to bed at a reasonable hour.  Hopefully tomorrow everyone will feel better.

Vikings Return

Daddy needed a haircut today.  And maybe a trim of the beard.

This is a screen shot of a video we did for our Viking series, during a relaxed moment where I got to take off my Viking hat a few moments.  I've sort of let my hair go wild lately.  Anyway, this and other videos are being set up for our new series coming up soon, but we're also working on the dinosaur videos, planning out ideas for that as well.  We've got some great stuff coming up at KidPak!

Oddly enough Daddy did actually get a haircut today, visiting my favorite salon: the kitchen.  That's where Mommy cuts my hair.  Mommy has been the hairstylist for Daddy the last twenty years or so.  I think outside of that, the only place I've gotten my hair cut was at the Magic Kingdom, and maybe once at a place that did it for free in Gainesville.

Madison was early to school again this morning.  She's wanting to get there earlier now, and have more time to settle in before the day gets really going.  This week they're going to have a tornado drill, which is convenient timing because I believe by Thursday there will be some rougher weather rolling in.  The tornado siren is one of the eeriest things you can hear, isn't it?

Madison did not have Live to Give today, which was good because Daddy was at work and we were busy preparing for a lot of different things, such as the new series above, our typical Wednesday night services, and an upcoming "Night to Shine" event at the church, which looks like it will be simply wonderful.

This will be on Friday, a high school prom set up exclusively for those with special needs.  It's a brilliant idea, and such a wonderful night of love and celebration.  We're looking forward to it very much.

Madison had taekwondo tonight, and she was somewhat sore afterwards, this from stretching muscles that she hasn't stretched in a while.  Getting back into the swing of things can be tricky when you're like Madison, who isn't one to just ease into certain things.  Rather, she can sometimes dive headlong into whatever she's doing.  End result:  slightly sore tonight. But she's having a great time, and loving it so much.

We got home tonight, and we watched a few episodes of "Kickin' It," which seems to be our pattern until we're done binge-watching that.  Madison was getting ready for bed, and the State of the Union speech came on, so we watched that - it had some big moments in it.

How incredible to see a Tuskegee Airman, one hundred years old, standing proud before the assembly there, as if he could get right into another airplane and start flying again.  He served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, and many in the audience rose to their feet to give him a standing ovation.  But there were some that did not stand up for him, which is unfortunate.  In fact, let's just say it is wrong.  The bar keeps getting lowered on what kind of behavior to expect from our leaders.  This man has earned our respect.  The ones who remained seated have not.

Anyway, there were other emotionally charged moments too, such as the moving Presidential Medal of Freedom honor to that person with stage four cancer we were talking about yesterday.  A little girl got a scholarship so she can go to the school of her choice.  There was a reunion of a family with their dad, a soldier returning from his tour of duty.  It included a lot of made-for-television moments.  But just like always, one party stands and cheers while the other sits there looking like they're somewhat constipated.  And in the end, to put a punctuation mark on their dislike of the President, the Speaker of the House actually made a big show of ripping the entire speech in half in front of everyone.

The optics of this are just crazy.  Fact checks seem to support that the state of the union is, in fact, good.  But one party's followers are cheering now, because their leaders showed an angry defiance, scowling and ripping up speeches.  Yay!  While the other party's followers are cheering about good reports about jobs, the economy, planting trees, testimonies and things like that.  Yay!

So that's where we are with our leaders.  It's such an odd thing, because it is not a civil thing at all.  Any seventh-grader can look at this and say these leaders are not acting like grown-ups.  I mean, can't we all cheer about certain things?  Are we so full of pride that we can't be happy to hear about low unemployment numbers?  If someone tells the truth about things you agree with, things that are good for our country, stand up and applaud for the good that is happening.  So what if you yourself didn't happen to be a part of that process?  Be a decent human, and cheer for other people who are benefiting in a good way.  And if you don't agree with a policy or vision that someone has, yes, you don't cheer for that.  But at the same time, don't be disrespectful to authority.  Again, even if it were to someone you strongly disagree with.  If I were in that chamber last night, or ten years ago, or twenty years ago, I would cheer for good news for the people of this nation, no matter who is sharing that news.  And I would not cheer for a plan for the future that I disagree with.  But there are things that we can and should all agree on, simple truths.  But it seems that in Washington lately, there is nothing people can agree on.  A simple thing like celebrating a Tuskegee Airman - you'd think that's something we all can agree on.

But that doesn't happen with our leaders.  Every year with this speech, it's predictable.  These leaders are now paving the way, and showing everyone else how to behave.  Many are pointing to the past, saying that is why we're misbehaving.  The explanation is, "We're misbehaving because someone on the other side was misbehaving before, and so now it is our turn to misbehave back, and do it worse."

As if that makes it okay for you to misbehave.

Remember "Miracle on 34th Street?"  Santa works at the Macy's store, and he stops this vicious cycle.  Following his lead, Macy's starts honoring others, including the competing Gimbel's store, and they focus on the people they serve.

It's such a well-received and loved idea that all the stores begin to change their behavior too.  Suddenly, everyone is helping one another!  Sure, they all have competing ideas of where they want to go.  But they honor one another, and they honor the people they serve.

Yeah, sure, it's just a movie.  But that's what we need in Washington.  Everyone should take a lesson from Santa. We need to start honoring one another, and serving the people.

3,720 to 1

Somewhere there's an actual statistic that's 3,720 to 1, but until then Madison has those odds memorized, fully aware of the probability of successfully navigating through an asteroid field.  It's one of those quotes that Madison happens to know, amongst many others.  Occasionally, it pops up, and today's one of those perfect applications of it, because she's studying probability this week in math.  In fact, odds are there's a quiz coming up.  See what I did there?

I told her I'd get her a C-3PO action figure for her nightstand to inspire her to study more.  Are the odds in favor of me remembering this?  We'll see...

She's been studying maps of Asia today, and odds in math, and getting ready for a little field trip in social studies that involves getting a job!  More details on that later, as we get closer to that time.  Madison is learning Photoshop too, and working on her perspective drawing as well, something she's been working on for a few days now.  It's coming out well, she said.

Tonight was Madison's piano class, which is short and sweet - the class is only a half-hour long, but it's just her and an instructor, so there's hopefully a lot of focus in there.  I may have to ask some more in depth questions for this blog as to quirky things or regular things that go on in class.  But she's doing her piano lessons in there, while Daddy sits in the car outside on this computer, or maybe playing Smash Brothers on the Nintendo Switch.  The class is just not long enough to actually go anywhere else, especially with traffic in Gainesville at that time.  Even a trip to one of the fast-food restaurants less than a mile away is just pushing it as far as time goes.

Anyway, we got home after that, and it appears as if this week is going to be more relaxed with homework and various assignments, so we're making good use of that time by not doing much with it.  Which I know seems contrary to "making good use of time," but in fact, rest is an important thing to do, and with that in mind, we're letting Madison chill a bit this week after a longer week last week with so many high-profile assignments and major tests.  One thing we did tonight was watch a few episodes of "Kickin' It," which has been Madison's latest binge-watching.

All in all, it seems some time since we did a speck of honest pirating, so we were playing that game "Pirates" tonight, the completely amazing epic pirate game that goes back to 1987.  This game is so epic that it is allowed to keep the title "Pirates!"  This is because it is clearly the greatest pirate video game ever.  I remember playing this in 1988 or so on the Commodore 64, and it was super addictive.  Tonight's adventures featured a rescue attempt of the Governor's daughter from Nassau, having been taken captive by a jerk sailing down by Venezuela.  We plundered heavily up and down the Central American coast, fended off pirate hunters, and returned back to the Bahamas with enough plunder to leave the crew quite content.  Arrrr!

Speaking of "plunder," today Mommy and Daddy were over at Goodwill to find some possible costuming for our upcoming series.  We found a lot of our Mikasa plate ware, the same exact fruit pattern we chose years ago before we got married.  It was in great condition, and just sitting there on a shelf, something like fifty to ninety cents a piece.  We picked up a lot of back-up plate ware today, and even looked up the value of this online afterwards:  we saved hundreds of dollars!  Beyond that, Daddy found some CDs and a new book that will be fun to read at Christmas time.

We were over there to visit the chiropractor, as Mommy has been having some back issues this week. Nothing too serious, but it's been uncomfortable enough that we've been using the jacuzzi, and also those things that you put on your back that send a small electric pulse, relaxing the muscles.  Also, a lot of various creams - I have no idea what I'm putting on Mommy's back, but I'm assuming it's helping!  Anyway, we were at the chiropractor for that today, and we'll be back again next week too.

Madison was reading "Lost in the Stars" today, which is nothing new.  She's been reading that book a lot, quite proud of herself for how much she's reading daily.  She loves that book, and Daddy will have to read it next, I think.  We're also reading "Thrawn" at night, so there's a good deal of Star Wars going on lately, and that's about to increase again with the new season of Clone Wars coming out soon.  That's a show that predates Madison, actually.  I remember looking forward to that first Clone Wars animated movie, and the first appearance of Ahsoka.  We just saw pictures and thought it might be a pretty cool show.  And here we are, so many years later, still watching this same show again.  Madison is super hyped to see it, and of course so are we.  We're Star Wars nerds.

Today's big stories are in the same arena that the next two days will be:  politics.  In one case, there was sudden and shocking news about a radio host and author of books that Madison has read, and how he found out he has stage four lung cancer.  Madison's taekwondo instructor, Mr. Edge, just found out his mother has lung cancer.  And of course Ba-Ba has been battling stage four cancer as well.  Mommy beat cancer over a decade ago, and therefore, we know a lot about the battle.  We speak the language.  Our hearts are heavy for these people, and we continue to pray for them.

The other thing that happened in the political world were the first votes of the 2020 election season.  They were cast today - sort of.  Iowa does things quite a bit differently with caucuses, and yes, that's a funny word.  I immediately think of the Walrus in "Alice in Wonderland," this complete nonsense song "Caucus Race," with everyone running around in circles and going nowhere.

Perhaps this caucus race in Iowa was about as chaotic tonight.  They had a complete breakdown in the statewide system, and the end result is that no one will know the official results of the voting for days.  Obviously, we know which Republican candidate won.  But the other side is a complete disaster.  And even worse, there's an appearance as if one particular candidate is being snubbed again, just as he was in 2016.  That does not bode well at all for the system.

You can hear C-3PO's warnings now, can't you?  He's telling the Democrat party the odds of success, and that party is like Han Solo, saying, "Never tell me the odds!"  And so once again, they're going full throttle into this asteroid field of an election season, and already, they're hitting their first big rock.  Because this party is not Han Solo.

It's hard to believe that an entire election was rigged to block out one candidate who a lot of people were voting for.  And it's hard to believe they're trying to do that again, but here we are.  I'm not sure what the odds of all of this actually working are - we'll leave that up to C-3PO.

It's Groundhog Day. Again.

It's Groundhog Day.  Again.  You can see Madison doing a bit of piano practice with Chuck, our groundhog that's been with us since at least 2003 or so.  Alert eyes will catch "I Got You Babe" on the music sheet there - we were listening to that soundtrack today, but this morning we got to do our groundhog skit on stage for KidPak, and that was amazing.

Here's Nerdo talking to Chuck, trying to get some information out of him.  I love this skit because Nerdo treats the groundhog like Linus does the Great Pumpkin, or like Buddy the Elf respects Santa Claus.  There's this sense of wonder about Groundhog Day, and it's great because it is such an obscure holiday in many respects.

Nerdo early on wasn't getting anyone to come out of the hole, so he tried a few unorthodox attempts, starting with a megaphone, because that's the why his Mee-Maw wakes him up, so it stands to reason that this should be the way the groundhog wakes up too.

It was fun, and the kids were all in on this skit, completely engaged and loving it when the groundhog actually emerged from his spot there.  It got a little crazy at the end, but everyone was laughing, and of course there was a bottom line that was in the skit, one that went with the sermon very well.  Daddy loves that groundhog!

If this were a day to be lived over and over again, I'll take it.  It was nice!  We even had snacks for everyone when we got in this morning...

Daddy and Mommy were working on these this weekend to bring in for everyone, and the doughnuts were easily gone by the end of the service.  As for the actual groundhogs that are out there, we watched some of the ceremonies, and here are the official forecasts:

Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow, so spring is on its way.
General Beauregard Lee did see his shadow, so we've got six more weeks of winter.
Yonah the Groundhog did not see his shadow, so spring is on its way.

Yonah is the new kid in town, a groundhog that came out on this mobile Groundhog home.  What you see in this picture is all on wheels, right there in the center of Cleveland (sort of), in front of about two dozen people.  It's a church day, so you can understand there being a smaller number of fans out there.  Plus, it's a new thing for Cleveland.  It's odd, because I think it would probably be better for everyone - including the groundhog - if this ceremony were done at the zoo where Yonah came from. But regardless, the ceremony took place in Cleveland in the park there.  We watched a video of it, and it took a while for Yonah to come out of his hole.  I think he was actually given a decent nudge out the door!

General Beauregard Lee seems to be enjoying his new home down in Jackson, Georgia very nicely.  Anyone in Georgia this morning knows that there's no way you couldn't see your shadow, and sure enough, he did see his shadow.  Six more weeks of winter!  There was a nice little poem read, and a good number of people on hand for the celebration there.  He came out of his front door, walked back and forth on his front porch there, gawking at the people gawking at him.  And despite the colder forecast, everyone cheered, because everyone loves the groundhog.

Which brings us to Punxsutawney Phil.  He says early spring here, as you can see above in this post that was shared on his official site.  We didn't have time to watch this one live this morning, this due to church, but we heard the forecast.  And late tonight, we actually sat and watched the pomp and ceremony of the whole thing on a replay fro Punxsutawney.  It was actually snowing when the groundhog came out there!  It would be nice if we saw spring come soon.  I mean, if it isn't going to snow, it's time to get this cold stuff over with, right?

This afternoon, Madison was on that piano, and she was also taking a bath.  Mommy was working on ancestry, and Daddy was playing a few video games, believe it or not.  When Madison was done with piano later on, it was time for the movie itself:  we watched "Groundhog Day" together, and for Madison, it was the first time.  She loved the movie!  And we love it too, watching it nearly every year.

Madison had some relaxing time today, watching some of the things she does, listening to music and even doing some reading.  Before bed, we read more from our current book, and we said our prayers for a great tomorrow.  Today was a good day though, certainly one you wouldn't mind doing over and over again.

Daddy-Daughter Date Night

Here we are at the Chick-Fil-A Daddy-Daughter Date Night, something we've been doing for seven years or so, and Madison was really looking forward to it.  For one thing, she was really dressed up nice.  Another thing:  she loves the milkshakes there.  Actually, she loves eating everything there.

The other thing is she knew she'd run into some friends while she was there.  Daddy told a few other dads about it a few weeks ago, and they were able to register as well.  We didn't sit with each other, as it was Daddy-Daughter Date Night, but we did sit close enough to occasionally talk to one another.

Here's another shot of the group outside.  It was as cold as we look there in this picture.  It's a good thing we were getting into that limousine soon.

This is the other part of the evening, a free ride in a limousine.  It just runs around the block, squeezing everyone in.  It's like a hay ride, without the hay.  Or the fall.  Or ... well, it's just a limousine, okay?

Anyway, this is always a fun night, as you can see from our Photo Booth pictures above.  There are always the guided questions that you can ask each other, and Madison hits those right away.  One of Madison's questions is always, "What do you want to do for a living?"  And her answer this year - and last - has been to become an actress.  Also, she'd rather read minds than fly.  And if she was an animal, she'd be a dolphin.

It was a pleasant evening together, and with no hockey game to rush out to afterwards, we were able to take our time, and even pick up some food for Mommy in the drive thru before heading home.

We had a nice night too, watching "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride," which I believe was originally titled "The Wind in the Willows," just like the book the movie was based on.  Daddy was wanting to watch this since the passing of Terry Jones, as sort of a tribute.  But it really is a nice little movie.  And it's great to see the Pythons back together, for the most part.  Anyway, we enjoyed that before bedtime.

Earlier in the day we were doing piano, or at least Madison was.  As Daddy was working in the basement a bit, she was also doing a Star Wars puzzle on the kitchen table.  It was a relaxing day otherwise, and one well-earned, given all the studying she's been doing as of late.

It's February, and it's cold.  Tomorrow that groundhog will stick his head out and look for a shadow, and we'll see what the forecast will be.  Probably more cold, I say, but not enough to snow.  We've had a few disappointing winters lately, with these frigid air blasts and no snow to speak of.  I mean, if it's going to be cold, at least have the decency to snow or flurry.  Seriously, I haven't seen a flurry in two years!

Who knows - maybe we'll see one later this year.  Regardless, February is here, and then after that March and after that Spring is not far away.  That's a nice thought to think of as we dive under the covers in search of warmth.

Tonight we prayed, and we read from "Thrawn" again.  Mommy and Madison said, "It's getting good now," in reference to the book.  Indeed, it's a good read, as we thought it might be.  We'll be invested in this one the next few weeks.

Anyway, it's getting late, and it's getting time for bed.  Madison pointed at me and said, "You're tucking me in!"  Still laughing at that direct command there...