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... Braves blow-out win, finishing Yellowstone virtual, one more Psalm, rain early, Team Edge work, homework, spiders, ice cream BOGO, wrapping up KidPak tomorrow... updates coming soon...

...5787

Today is year 5787, and it's a bit of a tradition for us now to watch a ministry channel this time of year that sort of analyzes the meaning of the numbers for fun, and draws a message from that.  The message for 5787 is "Enter His Rest," which doesn't sound too bad.

INSERT APPLES AND HONEY PICTURE HERE

Here's a tradition we don't miss out on: Mom had apples and honey set up on the table, and you can see the smaller-sized shofar there.  Yes, we blew that one instead tonight, and of course we had the honey there to add a measure of sweetness to our new year.  There was a bit of spice as well - one our way back from Tennessee recently, we stopped at the honey store there in Rabun County and picked up some bottles, including a spicy honey for Maddie.  

INSERT PICTURE OF SPICY HONEY HERE

She was trying this one tonight, and it was a little much for Mom and I.  But Maddie didn't think it was too bad at all.  She's sort of left me behind on her tolerance of spicy stuff - does that mean it's something that you can develop a certain immunity to?  I'm not sure.  But she's definitely on a different level of tolerance than she used to be.  Either way, it's not the best thing to add to apples, perhaps.

Today was an eventful day, of course, given that it was 9-11.  It was actually twenty-five years ago that our nation faced the disaster of our generation.  Surprisingly, a lot of the younger generation born about that time doesn't really know as much about the events of that day, and even worse, there's plenty of misinformation out there.  One thing that may be overlooked is the unity I remember - we really were the United States for a little while there.  I hate that it takes a tragedy of that magnitude to bring about such unity, and there's somewhat of a taste of that today with programming and memorial services.  We were watching a good bit of that ball game after 9-11, the one where President Bush threw the first pitch in New York's game vs. Atlanta.  And of course we were listening to all kinds of stories, some of them I hadn't heard before - there are so many stories from that day.  

And speaking of ballparks, tonight's Braves game may have been one of the most exciting games of the year!  We're talking eleven innings - in fact, I thought I read somewhere that the game ended at 11:11 in the 11th inning, and the scores combined were (6+5) 11, and of course it was on the eleventh.  The Phillies were ahead all game long until the very end, and the Braves tied it, and then the Phillies got ahead again in extra innings, and then the Braves tied it... and then the Phillies got ahead again, and then... not only did the Braves tie it up again, but Drake Baldwin got the walk-off hit for a huge, huge victory.  Kim got another astounding hit - he's delivered some massive hits.  But so did Sean Murphy, and Austin Riley, and Matt Olson... the whole team was delivering key hits at huge moments.  Fall baseball is great - but what a long night.  The game was already delayed because of rain, and yes that was a lot of rain for us all.

Maddie drove home just after all the rain, having her night at taekwondo.  Fridays are long days for her, with classes early, a lab class later on, and then of course taekwondo at night.  She was over at Nate's in between, which helps of course.

It's been a fun day.  We didn't read tonight - the game was so late - but we said our prayers, and then it was time for some sleep! 

...Things With Faces

INSERT PHOTO OF BAG HERE

Maddie's bag was sitting there, staring at us during dinner tonight.  We always laugh at those pictures of "things with faces," and this is one that cracked us up.  

All kinds of meetings today, that sort of day.  It looks like we'll be at the Chapel with KidPak the next few weeks as they continue to work and reconstruct the KidPak area after the extensive flooding.  Again, it's really awesome that more damage wasn't done.  We were very blessed.  

Maddie did have her taekwondo tonight, but not school this morning of course.  So yeah, definitely a nice morning to sleep in!  But there's homework to do today, and she's been on top of that as well.  There are some competitions coming up and a lot of activity. 

The Braves avoided a sweep against Tampa Bay today, winning this afternoon against a really good team that's definitely going to the playoffs.  Tonight we waited for Maddie to get home so we could continue our "Ghostbusters" series with the second movie in the series.  And you know something?  I like this movie more each time I see it.  I remember when it first came out, because I'm old.  But I still have that plastic cup with the "Ghostbusters II" logo on it, and I remember going to see it in theaters - along with all the big summer movies that year.  I know it's not everyone's favorite, but we like it, and yeah, probably better than "Frozen Empire," which I think we've only seen once.  Anyway, we kept the ghostbusting going tonight, and of course we'll get to the other movies soon enough this fall season.

We're reading "Thief of Time" now from the Discworld, just getting started.  But we've met DEATH and those nasty Auditors.  It's going to be a fun novel to go through, one I've read a good while ago, but like some of the other stories, I can't remember all of what happens yet.  Should be an enjoyable read though.

After that, it was tie for prayers, and some sleep.

Count Chocula Puppet

Puppet Count Chocula has entered the chat!  We finished the Count Chocula cereal last night, and so today at the office we had fun making the next one.  I use the color copier to give everyone their own puppet to make, and there you go.  Two down, one to go!

Quiet day today.  Maddie was back at classes this morning, given that she had the day off on Labor Day Monday.  She also was over at taekwondo as well tonight, and she's going to be sore - at least that's what Mrs. Edge promised!  I know how it is over there with the working out and cardio exercises, and it can be pretty rough.  Certainly good for you, but Maddie will feel it in the morning!

We watched the game tonight, and it didn't go so well for the Braves, but we're trying out some pitching and the real games to look for are this weekend as they once again battle the Phillies.  

Tonight, we finished reading "Soul Music," which was a decent adventure within the Discworld.  There's been some great moments in this one, and somewhat of a time travel .  We'll pick up with these two again in the next book, "The Thief of Time."  Should be fun.  After reading, time for prayers - and some sleep!

...Frankenberry Puppet

... work, Rays, random screams outside, Frankenberry Puppet, Maddie's day off, hummingbirds filling up, cooler weather, balloons... updates coming soon...

Labor Day

We didn't do much today - I power washed a good bit of the driveway and all of the sidewalk, and Mom was busy inside battling the washing machine.  That's been an ongoing struggle - we just replaced a large part inside the washing machine, as before it was stomping, thrashing and whomping around the room on it's own, off balance and having a little washing machine party in there.  We replaced the part, and now the party is more subdued, but clearly we need a new washing machine.  They don't grow on trees though!

We had plans to do things this weekend, and in fact there was an invitation or two, but we needed rest today, and opted to stay home and get some decorations out and get things cleaned up.  The weather was wonderfully pleasant outside all day.  Maddie and I played a few rounds of Luigi's Mansion, and I remembered how I'm not good at video games anymore (let alone anything else!).  After that, we watched a seasonal movie, Maddie's choice:  "Ghostbusters."  Now we'll be watching the other Ghostbusters movies, at least most of them.  I remember the first time I saw Ghostbusters - it was in New Jersey, actually. 

Here we are as Ghostbusters, because AI is in the early stages here and it's still fun to use for things like this.  I remember playing the Ghostbusters game on the Commodore 64...

This image brings back so many memories.  It's not my Commodore 64, but it is all the same stuff I had when I was younger.  Basically it was this computer, but I don't remember using it for anything but video games.  Super limited programming practice - I remember creating a few programs on it that were very elementary, some involving created sprites and everything.  But mostly it was for games like this one.

Anyway, back to Ghostbusting.  Hopefully this year I'll be able to have time to do that unofficial "Ghostbusters III," the video game that features the last appearance - on this side - of Egon Spengler.  It's the last time we hear all four voices of the team together, and it's an older game that I never got around to - but I've always wanted to, and we're big Ghostbusting fans of course.  We've got two other Ghostbuster games that are multi-layer types and are pretty fun too, so that just might be a little fun this season.

Okay, moving on!  We had a decent day today, relaxing and quiet.  Cool weather out there.  The Braves lost, but it was a close game against the Phillies and our pitcher did a really great job.  So did theirs, of course.

We read from "Soul Music" tonight, and DEATH is now riding a motorcycle, a clear reference to an old Meat Loaf album cover, or perhaps Ghost Rider, but it's fun nonetheless.  He's got some catching up to do in order to save the day, but there aren't many pages left, so I suspect he'll get there soon.  It's been fun.

After reading, we said our prayers, and tucked in the Plush Entourage for a good night's rest.  It was a nice holiday.

Sunday at the Chapel

We had a great morning at KidPak, right there back at the Chapel where we'll be for a while now, maybe the next three weeks because of the flood damage.  But we're making the best of it, and this morning was a really solid service.  And on top of all that, it was up to me to bring the sermon this morning.  I used the natural acoustics of the place to get everyone to quiet down as we told the story of Samuel, and hidden up there in the balcony was someone calling out, "Samuel!"  That was a pretty fun way of telling the story - it was pretty neat for the kids.  Maddie got some good pictures too!

Today was a quiet day afterwards, as we're in the midst of Labor Day weekend.  The big moment this afternoon came with a huge clutch three-run home run by Acuña to start a massive comeback win against the Phillies.  The Braves won, and it was a colossal moment against our division rivals.

We had plans today to go to the rodeo, but the weather outside was pretty hot, and also kind of pricy.  We opted to stay home this year.  Nate came over, and along with Maddie, the two watched "Hail Mary" for the first time.  Mom and I saw that earlier, but we were happy to see it again.

We read tonight, and after that it was time for prayers, and time for sleep.  Tomorrow is Labor Day and everyone gets to sleep in!