Exploring Sydney

Madison has been working all week on this powerpoint presentation specifically on Sydney, Australia.  All the kids in class are working on various things related to Australia, and as a side project, Madison was writing about Aborigine people there, even painting this rock a few weeks ago as a decorative style the Aborigine people use.  She finished the project tonight, and Daddy has her drive bookmarked here so I can peek in on what she's doing with these larger scale projects.  It's neat, because all her old projects are on the drive as well, going back a few years.  But this one on Sydney should be really good - she's worked hard on it, sitting on the couch with her laptop, arranging slides and researching about the different things in Sydney.

Tonight we had a run-through of the ceremony for next week where Madison will get her next belt.  It's a green belt, which we couldn't have planned any better.  She's getting a green belt a few days before St. Patrick's Day, as if we planned that all out last year when we first started working towards belts.

But tonight's run-through featured a some sparring, and Madison was having a great time of it.  She took a few kicks to the head, but she had her gear down.  Daddy watched:  she went down only once, but the boys she went up against kept falling down repeatedly. Some were missing kicks, while others were actually knocked down by Madison's kicks.  She was holding her own against the boys, and it was fun to see.   She was certainly winded by it all, and she was mentioning how certain hits didn't feel good, but she said she was really enjoying it out there, and can't wait to go back.  Ah, kicking boys down.  Nice.  Daddy was laughing the whole time, watching her from the observation area.

Tonight we got a little closer to the Blind Man's Treasure with our reading - it's a treasure that grown-ups can't look at, otherwise you'll go blind.  The Lost Boys don't have a problem with it, but we're assuming the pirates will!  We read "Cave of the Dark Wind" tonight, along with some more from our Romans devotional - it's been a good time reading lately.  The girls love the Neverland stories, even these ones that don't feature Peter Pan.

We said our prayers, and it was actually an early night for all of us - including Josh, who is spending the night at our place as he tries to get as much done as he possibly can with his next project for KidPak.  He's been staying in our guest room a lot lately, a sure sign we're getting closer to Summer Xtreme...!

Altie

You can see a modern day dinosaur story here, and one that's surprisingly local.  On the southern end of this state, there is a legend of a creature named "Altie," who locals aren't entirely sure about, but they know he (or she) is out there, in the water somewhere...

Here's a devotional entry I've been working on about this one:

      Are there dinosaurs alive even today?  Possibly. And just possibly, there’s one that lives nearby you!  Before you laugh, consider the story of Altamaha-ha, or “Altie” for short.  Sightings of this creature go back hundreds of years, and if you’re patient enough, it could be that you can spot him if you take a trip to south Georgia, where the Altamaha River empties out into the Atlantic Ocean.  It’s one of the largest river basins in the country – only the Mississippi River’s is bigger.

      Somewhere in these marshes and winding channels possibly lurks... what could be best described as a dinosaur!  The Native Indians had been seeing him for years before the first official sighting recorded on April 18, 1830.  That’s when witnesses saw a creature off of St. Simons Island that was about seventy feet long!  Since then, it has been seen multiple times by timbermen riding the river in the 1920’s, by hunters in 1935, by boy scouts in the 1940’s, prison guards in the 1950’s, fishermen in the 1960’s, and so on.  As recently as 2010, an amateur photographer captured footage of something strange and large swimming right there not far from him in the murky waters.

      No one knows the truth about Altie, of course.  There are plenty of doubters, with plenty of reasons to doubt the story.  But there are also plenty of believers, mostly local residents and fishermen.  So what’s the deal with Altie?  Is it real or not? 
     We might never know.  In fact, there are some mysteries we may never know the answer to.  For example, why does a matching sock seem to always disappear in the laundry?  Or why do we park on a driveway and drive on a parkway? 
     But more seriously, why do people get sick?  Why do accidents happen?  Why do bad things happen to good people?

      Eventually, we may find the answers to these mysteries.  But as frustrating as it may seem, perhaps we may not.  But through it all our job is not to fully understand everything that happens in life. In fact, we just physically can’t. No, our job is not to lean on our own understanding so much at all.  Our job is much simpler:  all we need to do is trust in the Lord with all our hearts.

      Don’t stress out or worry if you can’t figure something out. Trust in the Lord, because He knows all the answers.  In fact, it’s safe to say He even knows what’s up with Altie.

     It's a Wednesday night here, and the last one of the month, so we had a big service tonight at KidPak, and not the usual small groups meeting for the kids.  Meanwhile, Daddy was meeting with some others about the upcoming "Acting Up" class, sort of planning things out there.  It is going to be great!

     Madison is doing great.  Daddy got home and spent some time on the couch with Madison and Mommy, reading from our devotional, and reading from our latest Neverland adventure.  It's such a comfy couch, especially all together as a family like that.  It's a nice moment.  Mommy usually has something prepared to eat for Daddy at home, and it's such a nice atmosphere to come home to.  Madison is studying for a few tests this week, and also a presentation on Australia.  Daddy is wanting to do some Aussie-related things to help support her studies of Australia - including a trip to Outback, and watching a few movies from Down Under.  Daddy loves some of the items found at the Australian bakery nearby, so we might return there too - anything to enhance her studies, right?

     Everyone is healthy and happy here, although there is a rampant sickness going around.  I think for our part, we went through a bit of that towards the end of November and beginning of December, although nothing as severe as we're hearing is happening elsewhere.  It's "going around."  But we're doing fine here, and keeping healthy as we march forward into... March.  Can you believe March is here already?  They just keep slipping by, these days do.

Designer Dress

Madison has designed this unique dress, amongst others, in her latest artistic endeavors.  She's going back and forth between coloring in stained glass window images, and of course designing her own dresses.  This she does in between all the studying.  Tonight she didn't have studying so much to do as she had to finish up her presentation on Sydney, Australia.  It came out rather well, and it was all done all by herself.  Daddy looked on afterwards, just to check for typos and so forth, and the presentation looks good!

Tonight we had taekwondo, and it we're getting closer to that St. Patrick's Day green belt.  Madison got her third stripe on the belt today, which is pretty much paving the way for her to get that green belt very soon.  She's got the forms mostly down, even practicing at home.  Daddy moves some furniture around for that one, and you can hear her thumping on the floor as she aggressively changes postures and does a new form.  I have no idea what she's doing, but she does, and she's very confident in it all!

Madison was also confident in her skit at school today, the one they'd been working on where she's a "popular girl" that is offering the other kids some drugs.  A-ha!  Acting in school!  Of course, it's all rather simply done - but along those lines we were working on the "Acting Up" class that we'll be continuing this upcoming Sunday.  We were doing that throughout the day, coming up with a decent lesson plan that I think will work for our guests and students.  Im not sure how many will show up, but I think it will be fun, and educational.

The bus driver is still missing today, which of course is probably related to the events of last week.  Also, speaking of school, we're going to see the "Seussical" play the school is putting on, in just a few short weeks.  Jaycie is in that, and once again we're going there to support her and her acting friends.

It was a quiet day today, with more of that precipitation coming down lately, our lake is amazingly full, the fullest it has been in forty years, they say.  That's pretty full.  Just ten years ago, we were just getting there to full pool again, after such a long wait, and continued draughts.  These things come in cycles, don't they?  We're in the wet cycle now!

We read tonight, and prayed tonight, and thanked God for a dry, warm house.  It was a good day today!

Lemony Snicket's Water Cycle

Madison is studying for a bigger test tomorrow, and that test is on the water cycle.  The funny thing about the water cycle is that whenever we hear the words "water cycle," we immediately begin to think of Lemony Snicket, and his discussion about something really boring that we should all think about spending more time reading, rather than spend time reading about unfortunate events.  And that thing we should think about is the water cycle.

“The water cycle consists of three phenomena – evaporation, precipitation, and collection- which are the three phenomena that make up what is known as “the water cycle.” Evaporation, the first of these phenomena, is the process of water turning into vapor and eventually forming clouds, such as those found in cloudy skies, or on cloudy days, or even cloudy nights. These clouds are formed by a phenomenon known as “evaporation,” which is the first of three phenomena that make up the water cycle. Evaporation, the first of these three, is simply a term for a process by which water turns into vapor and eventually forms clouds. Clouds can be recognized by their appearance, usually on cloudy days or nights, when they can be seen in cloudy skies. The name for the process by which clouds are formed – by water, which turns into vapor and becomes part of the formation known as “clouds” – is “evaporation,” the first phenomenon in the three phenomena that make up the cycle of water, otherwise known as “the water cycle,” and surely you must be asleep by now and so can be spared the horrifying details of the Baudelaires' journey.”

Madison studied for a bit tonight, and she also showed me a clip from a video she shot that is supposed to tell her teacher about progress with one of her goals. Here's a screen shot of that video, which I just love the composition of.

Anyway, we have this video now, and while it isn't anything monumental, it is a nice little video that tells us the progress Madison made learning a few Italian words and phrases.

Tonight Madison went to piano, and we also went to the eye glasses place to get those new glasses of hers tightened a little bit, to keep them from falling off her face.  Piano went well, as always, although we didn't get as much of an update yet on how she's doing there.  Time steadily marches on though, so she needs to get back to practicing.  She's doing a good job though.

We did our grocery shopping tonight, and we also started a new book, "Cave of the Dark Wind."  The girls are already hooked, as there's something sinister here that keeps taking all the tribe's goats.  We read from the devotional, and Madison learned a little about the "Mouth of Truth," as seen in "Roman Holiday."  And after that, bedtime... we're still a bit worn out from the weekend.

But first, the big news of the day.  Madison is in a much better mood.  On the bus ride home, she sat next to her friend Jaycie, the one who stood up for her this past Friday.  Absent from the bus was one of the instigators from this past Friday - he won't be back on the bus for some time now.  Nor will the other one, once he got home.  Both have their bus privileges suspended, amongst other things.  The assistant principal spoke to Daddy and told us Madison would never have to worry about them again. He couldn't say specifically why, but it sounded severe enough that I'm okay with it.  I think the big thing here is that they learned to never start a fight with a girl.  That's just amazing common sense, and I'm not sure why an eighth grader doesn't know this by now.  You don't start fights with girls.

Madison went to the assistant principal's office, and met with a the assistant principal who oversees the eighth graders as well.  She was asked if she said anything to get the boys upset, and told them no.  Then the story we spent a lot of time writing yesterday was read to her, and she confirmed that it all happened as written, and that was that.  That morning, others were called to the office to testify, including the heroes Jaycie and her friend Jackson.  Both told the assistant principals the truth, and one can only imagine what it was that the two boys who started this entire situation were feeling when they were called in.  We passed by them this morning in the car - I was wondering if they even had a clue what was about to happen to them.  They won't be at that bus stop for a while now.  I spent the day waiting for a phone call to confirm that yes, everything checks out with the stories of Jackson, Jaycie and Madison, and yes, the boys are facing consequences, and yes, Madison and the others will be safe on the bus from this point on.   When the phone call came, it was right before Madison was about to get home, and from that moment on, our spirit was lifted:  everything was going to be all right.

Madison came running up the front lawn, bumping into the front door and laughing.  She was in a great mood now that those boys aren't on the bus anymore.  And we're in a great mood too, because she's happy again and safe.  She can talk to us about it all, and things are okay once more.

Friends, Romans, Elevators!

Today KidPak finally met the elevator, and as you can see above, it was somewhat of a party in there. We squeezed almost the entire cast in there for a funny video clip.  We also did a big group shot, although the 

We made our way up to the elevator, just because we were in the mood to do something goofy, and sure enough, you can see all the cast members above inside in their costuming.  The whole gag is that this is a replica of the elevator from the Golden Globes this past year, one used in a bit that none of us had really seen, because we stopped watching awards shows a long time ago because they get so political and a lot of the movies that are nominated are movies we've never wanted to watch anyway. 

So it's funny that we're all wanting to pose in this elevator that we're not quite that familiar with, but let's just go ahead and do it because it's there!

As for the service itself, things went very well today.  We had this big conference this weekend, so there were visitors.  And we also had a lot of microphones to go through this morning, lots of people with lines.  We didn't have the full cast - I think there were about 13 people on stage though.  It's an impressive number, and they all did a great job talking about our bottom line, which of course was being more than a conqueror.

This sort of message is especially important for Madison this morning, as we continue to speak encouragement and self-confidence into her life.  Pastor Lance is very much like a father figure to her, deeply troubled by this weekend's events and even suggesting riding the bus as a personal bodyguard, along with our security man Joseph, who also volunteered.  They deeply love her, as do many of the staff here.

Madison's performance on stage was an Academy Award winning one!  They have a simple part, and it's a funny one that the audience is getting into.  Anytime the Emperor's name is mentioned, Skylar and Madison above call out, "All Hail Emperor Zero!"  And then they blow the vuvuzelas, which aren't exactly the most triumphant sort of instruments to begin with.  The kids in the audience were saying, "All Hail Emperor Zero" together, to the Emperor's great annoyance!

Although he doesn't look as annoyed here!  You can see some of the new characters that Mommy was working on here, some statues that interact with the kids and the actors on stage periodically, although most of the time they're frozen in place.  It's a fun addition to our series! 

We were there at the church a little longer today, talking with a hero.  It was Madison's friend on the bus, the girl who stood up against those eighth grade bullies.  Of course, Madison stood up to them as well, and took the blunt of the attacks afterwards.  But another boy stood up to them too, and we're grateful for these kids doing the job the bus driver should have been doing.  We got a lot of specifics today, mainly because Madison is reluctant to talk about it or relive the experience, but for our purposes here, the important thing is that there were kids standing up with one another against bullies.  Madison stood up for another girl with special needs that was being mocked, and she was verbally assaulted for it.  Others stood up for Madison, and they too received all kinds of taunts. 

Today's message in KidPak rings true:  they are more than conquerors.  What doesn't take you down makes you stronger, and I think that's what we'll be seeing after this weekend.  Madison runs around like nothing happened, and lets it roll off her shoulders.  She gets upset when we talk about it, trying to get details and let her know what's going to happen next.  But she's ready to move on.  

What happens next is now set in motion.  Daddy sent a very detailed letter that was essentially a near script of the entire event, one carefully reviewed by both girls.  There are other witnesses too, and hopefully they can have the courage to step up and verify what happened.

I hate to have to write a letter like that, but what every parent wants is a safe bus ride for their kid.  And I think we'll be hopefully dealing with that this week.  Madison has a lot of friends at church and in the martial arts studio.  Some have offered to meet these boys at their bus stop, and that's of course my first inclination as a father.  But we'll put our trust in the system, and hopefully see a safer bus ride, and severe consequences for these actions.  The thing that is most disappointing of all is the sadness and despair the girls feel when saying, "The bus driver knew all this was going on and did nothing!"

Ugh.  Let's change the subject.  Before moving on, the point is this:  we learned the details of what happened today, and we learned that Madison stood up for someone else in the face of eighth grade boys.  We learned that Madison had friends that stood up for her.  Of course, we learned also that racism is still quite real.  But we also learned, most importantly, that Madison is in fact more than a conqueror.

So it is with that same spirit that we left the church, and our first thought was:  let's go out to eat.  We returned to Texas Roadhouse today, always a risky proposition after church.  There are quite a few people out there, the "after church" crowd.  But we were there a bit later, and we didn't wait terribly long.  We feasted on delicious six ounce medium-cooked sirloins, as Mommy and Daddy always do when we're there.  Madison had her chicken and spicy buffalo sauce, and of course we're going to spoil her and let her drink a Coke.  

Afterwards, we went home.  Madison went to work on Minecraft, while Daddy was crafting a letter to the school system about the testimonies we just heard.  We wanted to make sure we got the details right.  Otherwise, we were pretty restful the remaining part of the day.  It had been a long weekend with the conference and the morning services, so we were already somewhat exhausted.

The weather was clear today though, and in fact quite beautiful this morning.  After such a long stretch of rain, trillions of gallons, we all emerged from our homes to look to the skies in awe.  Mr. Blue Sky has returned!  We don't know God's purpose for so much rain here, but it's okay at least here.  There are incidents of flooding elsewhere - we're seeing images of the rivers running over in Pigeon Forge.  Also, the lake is easily at the highest level that I remember seeing it.  The wetland area near us is surprisingly high, up significantly closer to the road itself that passes over.  The tree trunks all around the lake - the ones closest to the shore - are submerged at the base.  The ground was swallowed up.  

We're safer where we are, but you can see streams of water rushing by in places that aren't usually anything more than a trickle.  

Tonight we watched a movie together, complete with that new popcorn that Mommy makes.  It tastes so much better than microwave popcorn, and despite the effort to prepare it, there's still enough for everyone to have as a light snack while eating.  In honor of our recent "Romans" series, we're watching "Night at the Museum" movies, the thinking is that there really aren't too many "Romans" themed movies that are safe for Madison to watch.  And really, we're not so much into them either.  There's a scene from "Bedtime Stories," but this movie here has a few fun parts with a character named Octavius.  "Night at the Museum" is a fun movie, and coincidentally, the guy who plays Ahkmenrah actually won the Academy Award tonight for best actor.  In a completely different movie, of course.  But that's about the extent of our Academy Award interest tonight. 

That's the thing about the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes.  It's not just me, but many folks I know:  we just don't care anymore.  We used to care, and sort of get into it.  But the movies just don't seem to be as good as they used to be.  And everything seems to need some sort of social engineered message in order to win.  Tonight's movie that won Best Picture had a social message too, and it is controversial to some folks because the movie shows people working together and getting along.  Specifically, it's a movie about racism, and about people of different skin colors learning to appreciate each other, stand up for one another, and not judge someone based on the color of their skin.  I haven't seen it yet, but we may watch "The Green Book" before it is all said and done.  

And now I'm back to the bus incident, and about these kids using racist taunts against our daughter.  It's a learned behavior, that much is clear.  They heard it from somewhere else, based on what I've written out.  It's the most ridiculous thing, so ridiculous you can't imagine an eighth grade boy coming up with it.  The only place you can imagine it is in a movie, perhaps, spoken out by some ridiculous stereotype redneck character.  And you think to yourself, "Okay, no one really thinks that way - it makes no sense whatsoever."  But here we are, still thinking about those hurtful words.  

Tomorrow, those boys are going to have a pretty awful day.

But tonight, we're happy at home.  We watched Octavius the Roman and Jedediah the Cowboy learn to get along despite all their differences, and work together to save the day.  It was a happy ending, and a fun movie.  We really like this one, and tomorrow night we look forward to watching Octavius ride the squirrel!

We finished our Neverland book tonight, just because it's okay to spoil your daughter during times like this, reading far too long into the night.  "Just one more chapter," she begs, and how can I resist? We completed another story, and found another happy ending, and with that there were smiles all around as we said our prayers, and went to sleep safe and sound, happy and loved.

Going up!

Madison Has a New Look!

So this is Madison from now on, quite pleased to see a lot better now.  She was so excited when Daddy finally arrived home - he had stopped by to pick up the prescription glasses that were ready.  She put them on immediately, and started bragging about the places she could see clearly now.  We posted this picture above online, and it got a lot of positive responses from many different people all over.  The glasses look great!

Today, Madison was painting on a canvas - here's her one creation she made this afternoon.  She did a few others, actually, just dabbling with her paints on the kitchen table.  She enjoys painting - she's working on a portrait of Jyn Erso as well, one that's slightly anime.

Meanwhile, Daddy was taking endless elevator portraits again at the ONE Marriage Conference.  This went on for a while, and as he was the only one there today with no help, it sort of dragged on and on and on... it was nap time when getting home, which was a little later.

But we did get home, and despite all the rain, we were happy together at last.  Mommy was working on the costuming for two characters tomorrow, and Madison actually did a bit of piano practice, but otherwise, it was a quiet day for them.  We watched a movie tonight, "Jumanji:  Welcome to the Jungle," and pretty much did it for research on our jungle theme upcoming for Summer Xtreme.  Just trolling for ideas here, although I don't think we can use this one as much.  Still, it was a fun movie, and from what we're hearing, there's a sequel coming out later this year that we'll no doubt be watching for in theaters.

Tonight we read from our Romans devotional, and we read from this story of a captured mermaid on Neverland.  It was a nice time together tonight, an early night though - everyone was ready to turn in early.  We'll have a great morning tomorrow with some new characters, and we might even revisit that weird elevator!

Racism

Tonight, Daddy was doing this, what you see above, until after eleven or so.  It was the start of the ONE Marriage Conference today, and the church built this elevator above as a photo op.  It's a recreation of an elevator used during a video at the Golden Globe Awards this past year.  The door would open and celebrities would be in there dancing or doing zany things.  At the conference, there wasn't a single person that told me, "Hey, that's the elevator from the Golden Globes!"  In fact, I had to look it up a few days ago to see why there's this elevator photo op up there.  Still, it was a neat idea, and there were quite a few people posing for pictures - and videos - in this elevator that doesn't go anywhere.  Daddy had their cell phones to take pictures with, and a remote control to open and shut the door.

Being at a marriage conference, there was one thing that couples were largely doing when the door was opening, and you can see that above.  So yes, for the next two days, my official job is pretty much taking pictures of people making out in an elevator.

Yeah.

Unfortunately, the thing that has been on my mind - and will be for this whole weekend - is an incident on the bus this afternoon involving my daughter, Madison.

This portion of the blog was written a few days later, mainly because I was waiting to get the account of things from different witnesses, and I've been a bit too distressed to actually type it out.  I won't go into tremendous detail here, but I do have all the specifics because I was able to interview a girl who saw all of this, and there were two (or three) other witnesses to confirm what happened.

First of all, there were the bullies.  These were eighth grade boys on the bus, and evidently they have been able to make fun of other kids on the bus for a good deal of time.  They were trouble, and they were moved from their seats earlier in the year because they were trouble.  But now they have become trouble again, for reasons you'll read about in a moment.  They were sitting near Madison.

They were taunting a special needs girl, which says all you need to know about their character at this point.  When I was younger, you never teased a girl.  If you do that, if you make fun of a girl, you can never win.  Ever.  I think that rule still applies of course.  And these boys in just a few short days would learn that the hard way, but I'm getting ahead of myself - as I said, I'm typing this a few days after the event occurred.  It's actually Tuesday morning now.

So these boys were making fun of a special needs girl, and that's when Madison told the boys to leave her alone.  And here's where I have to say the obvious:  I'm so proud of her for this moment.  She knew what they were doing was wrong, and she called them out on it.

But she's in sixth grade, and they are eighth grade boys, so they now began to focus their insults on her instead.  And lacking any dignity or self control, they went for the jugular.  Initially, their questions were obscene.  I know what they were asking, and for anyone to ask a sixth grader these types of things, it's obscene.  If I asked these types of questions to a sixth grade girl, I would be arrested.

As if that were bad enough, next, it went to race.  We don't understand racism.  I don't understand it, and of course at the same time I have the benefit of not being affected as others are.  But my daughter experienced it on the bus today - these two boys were saying a lot of racist things, and they didn't stop.  Madison called them out on it, and told them to stop being racist.  But it was two older boys versus one sixth grader.

But not for long.  She wasn't completely alone, and here's where I'm so amazingly grateful for her friend Jaycie.  This other girl goes to church with Madison, and in fact her mom is a big part of the KidPak acting team.  And there's another boy on the bus too, one named Jackson.  He stood up for Madison too.  Both of them are bigger, and both began telling the boys to stop.

But the boys don't have common sense.  They didn't stop.  They were poking fun of Madison's skin color, and her hair, and asking her if she was from North Korea and wanted to bomb America. They said that she wasn't white, and that was gross.  Madison was upset.  I'm upset typing this.

You might ask where the bus driver was in all of this.  I don't know.  And neither do the kids - that was one of their biggest complaints.  Madison complained, why doesn't he do anything?  Jaycie felt the same way.

Again, I have the benefit of typing this now, a few days later.  I know how things work out looking back a few days.  But at this time on Friday, I am distressed.  We are distressed on Saturday and Sunday too.  We don't know the whole story until Sunday, including these awful details.  I'll be honest:  I broke down and cried at one point, hearing some of the racial slurs and obscene questions.  It weighed on our hearts all weekend:  what will those "in charge" do about this?  Please don't let Madison down on this, I prayed.  She needs to be able to trust in the system and the authorities.

It was Sunday afternoon that it just so happened that the main instigator was literally in our front yard on the way home from church.  This was just after I heard every detail.  There he was, and I've never really seen him before on this side of the neighborhood.  What an odd coincidence.  He was wandering around with some friends on bikes, and just so happened to stop there.  And of course I'm a dad and I want to obliterate him.  I want to threaten him with his life.  I spoke with Pastor Lance and one of our security folks here, and they too wanted to "visit" this boy right away.  But I held back and didn't even really look his way:  he's in for a surprise, I thought.  You're dead and you just don't know it yet.

And we were right - by Monday afternoon, we knew he was in serious trouble.  The assistant principal couldn't say specifically, but he is a dad to a little girl too, and that's why I reached out to him.  But he said that "we won't have to worry about those boys anymore."

Because this was serious.  These days, it's odd how you could probably be caught with a beer in school, and that's a huge deal.  But it's not as big a deal as using racial slurs.  And of course, it's not as big a deal as obscene questions to a sixth grade girl.

We were worried all weekend.  These boys really hurt her, and Madison didn't want to talk about it much, only when pressed for details.  Even so, she wasn't going to retell the story, because she was trying to blot it from her mind.  That part was left to her friend Jaycie, who was thankfully there to tell every detail and stand up for her friend. I cannot even begin to express how thankful I am for Jaycie right now.  This girl stood up for Madison, and was a real hero today.  She got called names too:  she was called a feminist by those boys.  Was that supposed to be an insult?  A feminist is someone who believes that girls should be treated the same as boys.  Look it up, kiddos.  We had to laugh at the lack of intelligence on display, particularly with some of the other completely inane things they were saying.

But Jaycie said the smart things, and did the right thing - even if the bus driver did not.  She was the hero, and she spoke to the assistant principal on Monday morning as well, sealing the deal.  So did the other boy, Jackson.  He testified as well.  We have yet to reach out to him to thank him.  And when Madison came in to that office on Monday, she was nervous, but she told them what happened as well.  Or, at least she confirmed it all when they read the story to her.  She was the primary victim here, so she didn't need to say that much.  The witnesses said all that was needed to be said.  Those boys were toast.  They're not riding the bus for a while.

For a time this weekend, our hearts were so heavy.  All of us.  Contrast that to what things would be like Monday afternoon, after the "sentencing."  To quote The Tick, the boys got "a justice sandwich, no toppings necessary."

At this point Tuesday morning, they haven't apologized to Madison.  I've never met them.  We passed by them at the bus stop Monday morning on the way to school, and they probably had no idea this was the last time they were using that bus stop for a long time.

Hopefully their behavior will change here.  Because this sort of uncontrolled dialogue could get them hospitalized.  Seriously, there are other dads who would see to that.  There are other friends that would see to that.  There are people in high school, people of other races, that won't be so friendly when they see a person known to spout out racism walking down the hallway.  There are girls that won't think you're such a nice guy when they hear about you asking a sixth grader obscene questions. In all of this, hopefully they're learning a lesson earlier here, one that will save them a lot more pain later.  It hurts now, but it will be worse later.

Racism is ugly, isn't it?  As we said earlier, we don't understand it.  But now our family has been affected by it, if only slightly.  It's such an odd thing because it makes no sense.  It makes no sense to Madison either.  It's as if you're speaking another language - the words coming out of your mouth are so ridiculous.  How can you even think that way?  We're not insulted, but instead we pity you for having some major brain malfunction.  You're the one with the problem, not us.  And that's Madison's general feeling about this.  If you're a racist, you're the one with the problem.  I'm doing just fine, thank you.

The great thing is that as of this writing, she's just fine.  She ran up the front yard after getting off the bus Monday afternoon, laughing and talking non-stop about her day.  She even talked a bit about her visit with the principal, and how that one boy wasn't on the bus for some reason.  We knew the reason:  his parents came to school to pick him up.  The other boy had to go home on the bus, but won't be riding it anymore either.

Madison had a pleasant ride home, and is now sitting next to Jaycie, happy and as if nothing happened.  She internalizes things and wants to move on, and who wouldn't?  But knowing how it all worked out, she's not revisiting this whole experience in an unhealthy way.  It's nice to know that in her internal system of "the way things should work," that there is accountability, and that people cannot and do not get away with saying and doing things so awful.

This has been an unusual posting, because I'm writing for a four day period.  I know how things worked out here on Tuesday morning.  Friday, though, we were worried and burdened.  Daddy was taking pictures and working the conference, but this was on his mind so very much.   I love my little girl so much.  Rage and grief swept over me, and also a frustration at the inability to do anything specific.  But it all worked out, and God took care of all of this, just like He always does.  Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.  It's actually Tuesday morning that I'm writing this.  The sun is about to come up here, and the birds are chirping, and our family is happy and very blessed.

Lost World Logo

So the dinosaur messages are in place, and we were reviewing them today, all eight of them.  They're going to be great, and once again God has given us some gems with an exciting theme of all kinds of dinosaurs from the spinosaurus to the ankylosaur to the pachycephalosaur to of course the T-Rex.

It was a decent day, a fun day for ministry in a way because Daddy has been meeting in person and on the phone ministries from all over, and amazingly, they're either wanting to see or use our ministry material all over the place.  There's a church in Maine, one in South Dakota, a few in New York, one in Florida, one in South Georgia, a few in Tennessee, and of course there are the locations in South Carolina and California that use the stuff we write here in Georgia.  And beyond that, I've seen the stuff I write go out to other countries too - all of this is very gratifying.

This morning, I was at a breakfast in Clermont, speaking in person with various children's church leaders around the larger community here, and it was nice to touch base with a lot of folks, and listen to their passions and visions.

We had a work day today, as you can see, and Madison was doing well in school today with a little skit that she had to write for her health class.  She was the "bad guy" in the skit, tempting others to use illegal drugs.  She had fun with that!

She was sparring tonight with taekwondo, and after that we had time to watch some Star Wars Rebels, watching a few episodes with loth cats.  Madison loves loth cats!

It's pouring rain even now, and it's going to continue for a while this week.  So we're settling in for a pretty amazing quantity of water.  It helps you sleep at night though, which is nice.  But otherwise, it's just cold and somewhat miserable outside, depending on the temperature.  This week, we've seen lots of variety with the temperatures.

We did our reading tonight, and Madison didn't have to do any studying for anything because of the field trip she's going on tomorrow.  That should be nice!

Roman Centurions

The rain has been epic this week.  They are estimating something well over a trillion gallons of water on North Georgia this week, and it's obvious from all the standing water alongside the roads that we're getting deluged with heavy rainfall, with storm after storm rolling through.  The skies at night are filled with lightning flashes, and the visibility is very low for all of us.

Nevertheless, Daddy made his way home to do some reading with the family.  We read from a new book tonight, part of the Neverland series, a book about mermaids and a weird circus ship.  There are three of these types of books, all part of this series written by the same authors as before - we're just going to power through all of these.  Along the way, there's also two more of these full-length books. I think there are five books left in all, so it'll be one after the other here, I think.

Also, Daddy was reading from the devotional tonight.  We're continuing our series with Romans tonight at KidPak, but it was a baptism night upstairs, which means that there were something like thirty people getting baptized in the main service upstairs.  Translated, that means a longer service for kids downstairs, which means Madison stayed home tonight to get some rest.  She's been a bit under the weather lately, not terrible, but just enough to warrant getting to bed a little earlier.  Sure enough, she was later surprised when she realized she fell asleep at eight o'cock tonight.

How appropriate that there were baptisms tonight - all they would have to do is go outside and find one of the many ginormous pools of water outside.  Our service tonight featured a visit from the Roman Centurion from the Bible, the one who talked with Jesus.

Clint has been great as a Roman this series.  I think that seal must have been a lost-and-found item.  Anyway, we had a bit of a script there, and we talked about some weird laws in Georgia too.  One of those laws, the famous "you can't eat chicken with a fork in Gainesville" one was funny:  two of our cast members ate chicken with a fork in the sanctuary, in Gainesville city limits.  SO... as part of it, we had Officer Monica come up and actually "arrest" those two as we played the song "Bad Boys."  Daddy didn't break that law though - I ate my chicken without a fork.  There are some laws I will not break, I tell you!

Madison did well at school today, getting a few perfect scores on some tests, including a science test, a health test, and one in language arts too.  She's got an A in all classes except science, and is about .17 away from an A average there too.  She's doing so good!

It's Wednesday, so sometimes these day are tough and we don't get to see the family that often.  Mommy is fixing up this one room upstairs and it is looking great for materials, sewing, and craft projects.  It'll be Mommy's "playroom," and it is coming along really well!

Before we go for today, here's a quick script Daddy wrote pretty much immediately after waking up this morning.  It went well with tonight.  We were talking about Romans 13, about respecting those in authority.  It's funny when you read that first big section of Romans 13, and you think about the current leaders in government.  But then read it again, and think of the leaders in government four years ago.  It's the same words in the Bible, but it's funny how your feelings and interpretations may suddenly shift, based on how you feel those leaders really are!

HOST:  “Today, I wanted to let you meet someone that really impressed Jesus.  In fact, Jesus said in Mathew 8:11:  ‘Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.’  The Bible says that Jesus was amazed!  That’s pretty awesome – Jesus was pretty impressed by this guy!  What did he do?  Let’s find out right now.”

CENTURION enters STAGE RIGHT

CENTURION:  “Friends, Romans and Countrymen…!  How’s it going?  Does anyone here know how many years are in a century?”

Let audience answer.

CENTURION:  “That’s right:  100 years.  I am known as a Roman Centurion, so how many Roman soldiers do you think I am in command of?”

Let audience answer.

CENTURION:  “That’s right.  100 Roman soldiers.   I tell this one, ‘go,’ and he goes.  I say to that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes.  I say to my servant ‘do this,’ and he does it.  God put me in a place of authority here.”

CENTURION pauses a moment, his tone changing.

CENTURION:  “I love those people that work for me.  But one of my servants was very sick at the house.  Very sick!  He was paralyzed, and suffering terribly.  I had to do something.  So who do you think I went to see?”

Let audience respond.

CENTURION:  “That’s right.  I went to see Jesus.  (excited) And I actually got to speak with him.  Jesus asked me, ‘Shall I come and heal him?’  Imagine that!  Jesus was asking meif I wanted him to come to my house!  You know what I told him?”

Let audience respond.

CENTURION:  “I told him no way!  Look, I am not worthy of having Jesus in my house.  See, I said it before:  I’m over a lot of people.  And I serve under a lot of people too.  I recognize authority when I see it.  So I told Jesus, don’t worry about making that trip to my house.  Just say the word …and my servant will be healed.  Want to know a little secret?”

CENTURION:  “Jesus is the ultimate authority.  I may be the one giving orders to my men, but when Jesus tells meto go, I go.  When he tells meto come, I come.  And when he tells meto do this, I do it.  And when he said my servant was healed, guess what? My servant was healed!”

CENTURION:  “Just remember that it’s God that puts people in their places of leadership, because He’s the one in charge.  Do you want to know how to amaze Jesus?  All you have to do is know who is really in charge around here: that’s Jesus.  When you do that, who knows?  I think he can make all of you leaders too.”

CENTURION:  “In fact, I know it.  Good day, citizens!”

Ned Kelly Meat Pies

It's amazingly cold and miserable outside, and that sort of was a theme for the day.  We've got sniffly noses here, so no taekwondo tonight.  It was a yucky sort of day today.  Daddy spent the morning returning the video game cabinets, and with that came a challenge to rent a vehicle, driving cold rain, and over the course of an hour, a missing credit card.  Yikes.  Fortunately, that one was found, having fallen on the carpet between two chairs.  Not sure how it happened, but it really stinks when you lose things!

Fortunately, I got home and had a Ned Kelly meat pie.  This is a specialty meat pie from Australia that has just about everything in it.  And it's delicious and warm!  There's an Aussie Bakery not far from here in Cumming, but it has some morning hours that make it difficult to get to with our schedules.  But we made it last week when we went to the chiropractor, so we were able to pick up some meat pies for later.  And this one hit the spot!

I'm not entirely sure why we want to name a pie after Ned Kelly.  He wasn't exactly a noble sort, and in fact a killer.  But he's something like Billy the Kid to Australians, something like a folk hero worthy of naming a meat pie after.

Tonight we watched Star Wars Rebels when we got home, and read before bedtime, which is always nice.  Sometimes these days just seem terrible, and it becomes easy to focus on the negative:  Madison was sick, and she was so upset that she lost some big Minecraft progress she had worked on an hour or something like that (that time increased the further away you got from the story).  But there's a lot to be grateful for, including a warm house just to start with, and family time reading, and blankets, something to watch together... oh, and a tasty Ned Kelly meat pie.

Everything is Still Awesome

It was Presidents Day today, so we slept in and took it easy throughout the day.  Daddy did write a message today for the dinosaur series, the last one actually, so there was that.  This one took a few days to finish, as some don't exactly download instantly.  This one's points came every two days, so it took actually about a week to finish up, but I'm excited about it.  Imagine doing a Biblical three-point message inspired by an ankylosaur.  That's pretty crazy.

It was my favorite dinosaur growing up.  Madison says her favorite dinosaurs are the raptors, which didn't really make anyone's top ten list when Daddy was a kid.  You could thank Jurassic Park for that much.  Jurassic Park III gave us the Spinosaurus, which is the topic of another message too.  These are all pretty good, and one cool note:  we spoke with a guy who owns that Jurassic Park explorer you may have seen on this blog before.  We'll be working with him soon, making videos for KidPak.  Yeah, that'll be pretty awesome.

Speaking of awesome, today we saw "Lego Movie 2" over in Cumming, and it was indeed awesome. In fact, one of the lines in the movie was "Make Everything Awesome Again," which I'm sure would upset some politically leaning folks.  But hopefully their fury was abated by the presence of a  LEGO Ruth Bader Ginsburg, which was a completely random and hilarious moment.  There was a lot to laugh and cheer at in this movie - all three of us really enjoyed it.  It's funny how big of a deal the LEGO movies and Frozen movies became for Madison a few years ago, both released within two months of each other.  And here we are again with both sequels - the one for "Frozen" will be released at the end of the year.

After the movie, we went to Chili's again, using up another one of Madison's gift certificates she earned for good grades.  We tried the new location in Dawsonville which was okay, but not as good as over in Gainesville.  Still, it was a pretty decent and filling meal, one we all enjoyed.

We got home, and there was piano to go to for Madison.  She was practicing beforehand, and that's sounding good.  In piano, she's learning a new song that she describes as a "haunted twinkle little star" song, a new one we can't wait to hear.

Tonight we had a bit of Star Wars, by Madison's choice.  We did Star Wars Monopoly first, one where the forces of good (Mommy and Madison) absolutely crushed Kylo Ren (Daddy), dominating the galaxy.  At least for now.  But I'll be back, you hear me?  I'LL BE BACK!!!!

The Star Wars theme continued as we finished up last season's "Rebels Recon" episodes, and started with four episodes back-to-back-to-back-to-back of "Star Wars Rebels."  We also read tonight, moving along with the devotional, and actually reading enough to finish the Peter Pan book.  But Madison and Mommy want more, so I imagine we'll be starting on some of the other books there are in this series, including the shorter ones next, followed by the later two longer novels.  We're all about Neverland lately!

It was actually a great day today, yes, I'd go as far as to say an awesome one.  Everything is still awesome!

Hail Caesar!

Madison returned to her job as herald for the Emperor this morning, alongside her co-herald Skylar.  This is a picture of them goofing off just before service.  We had another full cast this morning, another skit based on another message found within the book of "Romans."  

This morning's message was about respecting your teachers, leaders and parents too.  Anyone in charge is someone that God has put there.  It doesn't necessarily mean that they are doing the right thing, but according to Romans, when we're respecting them, we're respecting God.  We had fun with this idea a bit, poking fun in a service that had the bottom line phrase, "Hail Caesar!"

Here's Madison holding Pastor Lance's daughter Charlotte after the service, alongside a few of the other cast members in the greeting area in between services.  Everyone was there for pictures, posing with kids and families as they've been doing for quite some time.  Madison is very methodical about it, knowing when it is precisely time to go out and so forth.  She's very responsible!

As for the skit itself, it went well, and was pretty funny.  It was actually one of Daddy's favorite things he's written so far, although it was maybe a little mean at times.  We had fun poking fun here and there, but nothing too harsh.  The funny part is how absent-minded our Emperor is, Emperor Zero.

In the end, we had a good service, and there was the classic material in there about "funny laws," which are basically all those weird laws in different states that no one knows (except a few) why exactly they're there.   One such law here in Georgia says that it is illegal to put a donkey in a bathtub.  While this might be common sense to some folks, there may be others that were thinking this is actually a pretty decent idea.  And it is those folks that this law was written to protect, because we all know the terrible harm that can come from putting a donkey in a bathtub in Georgia.  If you feel inclined to do that sort of thing, you'd best take your donkey and that bathtub to Alabama or South Carolina, where they allow that sort of behavior!  Madison was laughing at the odd laws, including the classic "Don't tie your giraffe to a lamp post or telephone pole."

And we'll hear more about this one on Wednesday:  In Gainesville city limits, it is prohibited to eat chicken with a knife and fork.  Daddy spoke with Officer Monica today, and we'll probably set something up where we'll have someone arrested for doing something like that.

We got home today, and the rest of this day was spent a little more quietly.  We did some Star Wars Battlefront, and Madison played piano for a bit.  It's sounding so good, these pieces of music filling the house.  Sure, it's all practice and therefore not entirely perfect yet.  But it is clearly better than anything Mommy or Daddy can do, and it's not some prerecorded thing:  it's actually our daughter making music on a piano that we were blessed with.  It's pretty exciting.

We read tonight too, getting closer to the end of the story, in fact finishing up the part in Rundoon.  We read more, knowing we weren't going to be getting up early in the morning to go to school.  It's Presidents Day tomorrow, so we all get to sleep in.  That - I think - is something that all political parties can agree on.  Although these days, I'm sure someone will have something to complain about.  

Another thing we did was work-related:  we watched the "Even Stevens Movie."  This has a plot line that we just might be following for our Summer Xtreme story.  Tonight was the first time we had seen it - some of the cast had recommended it, so we bought it tonight and sat down to see what we could see.  It wasn't bad, and it in fact does have a root idea that could work for our series skits.  Also, there were some fun jokes to write down along the way.  The writing process for Summer Xtreme has begun!

Anyway, it was a good day, and only the second day in this new Roman series.  Madison's story of the carnation was such a blessing to others here, and in ways we hadn't really expected.  God is good. 

Pizza, Pizza

We had a game of Clue tonight, and this time Madison figured out it was Mrs. Peacock in the Lounge with a Lead Pipe.  It took a bit of running around the house, and a few calculated risks and careful deductions, but Madison always points out Sherlock Holmes' advice:  "Don't just see, but observe!"  It's funny that she can quote Sherlock Holmes.  We had that soundtrack playing as we were sitting there playing.  The version we have was purchased back in 1999, and it is in this collector's tin with little official pencils and pewter figures and weapons, and neat pads and envelopes.  It's a fancy anniversary addition of some sort, so whenever we're playing, it's not some ordinary game of Clue.  No sir!  This is the deluxe version for opulent folks like ourselves!

Daddy did a bit of work today, and while that was going on Madison was practicing piano, but also painting rocks too.

She got this kit with suggested patterns and everything, so this afternoon she made a few painted rocks, spending a good deal of time with them.  They turned out well!  The other thing we were working on is the Rubik's cube.  We've both figured out the first layer rather easily, and surprisingly, the cross on the third layer is simple.  It's that second layer we need a bit more practice on.  Daddy and Madison both have these cubes, and we're sitting there watching various Rubik's cube videos on social media, trying to teach ourselves the basics of solving a Rubik's cube.  Maybe this is one of our goals for 2019.  For now, the goal at the moment is layer two.  We're not quite there yet, but one layer at a time!

We slept in today, as last night was a later night.  Thanks to Mommy, we had a nice breakfast too.  Daddy was off to work after that.  Nana and Ye-Ye came by with carnations for Madison and Mommy, wishing us all a happy Valentine's Day.  It was a great holiday, one with lots of wonderful stories and thought.  We were all quite happy with it!

Today was more of a relaxing day, considering that yesterday was a bit more busy.  Daddy got us pizzas on the way home, including a gluten-free pizza from the grocery store.  For he and Madison, we had Little Caesar's pizza, mainly because we wanted the box for a skit tomorrow morning at KidPak.  The service there wasn't ideal, and the pizza wasn't that great either.  But at least we have the pizza box, which will make for a fun little moment tomorrow.  Pizza, pizza!  It wasn't bad, but it's not like any of us will be clamoring to go back and get some more of that pizza, even if it is right across the street from the church.  The surprising thing is how inexpensive it is, which I guess goes back to the old notion of "you get what you pay for."  It was okay.  But it was kind of nice, all three of us eating pizza Daddy picked up on the way home.  So many families do that sort of thing more often, and it was nice to give Mommy a break from cooking, if only for a bit.

After eating our pizza, we were off to bed tonight a little earlier.  Tomorrow is an earlier morning, with a big second "Romans" service.  Lots of characters will be here, and it will be a lot of excitement and learning and fun.  Can't wait!

Medieval Times

It was a long, long day today, and that isn't necessarily a bad thing.  We started out the day going over to Cumming to our chiropractor, who gave us all adjustments - and checked on Madison's feet while there.  Already, her standing posture is improving.  She has a great time there, as do all of us, with lots of jokes and humor with the staff and the Doc himself.  We've been going here since before Madison was born, and she still giggles at the adjustments and popcorn sounds from her spine.

Afterwards, we went over to an eyeglasses place to see about getting Madison a pair of glasses.  This took a bit of time, but Madison found a pair she was happy with, and we placed the order.  In just a few short weeks, we'll get a call to come by and pick up a new pair of glasses!  Strangely, we picked up on a promotion while there - if you get a new pair of glasses, you can get a voucher for a free ticket to a monster truck rally.  I'm not sure what will come of that, or what prescription glasses have to do with monster trucks, but there it is!

Anyway, we got home, and that's when we all got ready to go do something pretty big:  Medieval Times!  This is a word I can finally spell without having to look it up.  I've written it so many times lately that I think I finally have mastered it.  Don't laugh at me.  I have no idea why I haven't been able to spell this word, but for years I have struggled with it.  Sort of like my struggles with a Rubik's cube, I just can't fully memorize the right pattern, in this case a pattern of letters!

Moving on, something happened tonight that was deeply moving.  I didn't realize what it was until afterwards, but here's an email I sent out to a few friends following the night's events:

_________________

Back in November, Madison went with the sixth graders on a field trip to see Medieval Times, and she loved it so much she’s been asking to go back.  So we thought we’d surprise her for Valentine’s Day with some tickets to go tonight.  We bought these last month, and back then I got reserved seating and I had no idea where - I just didn’t want to do “general admission” and all that.

MEANWHILE, yesterday was Valentine’s Day.  Madison spent days beforehand making these hand-crafted origami flowers for everyone with customized notes on each one, sweet and uplifting words for every student in class.  On top of that, she brought in candy and cookies for everyone too.  It’s an optional thing, and sure enough:  welcome to middle school.  She got nearly nothing in return.  One friend gave her a small card, but that was it.

On top of this, the school has this money-raising thing where you can buy carnations at the school, and give them as gifts to each other.  If I knew about this, I would have gotten a few anonymously to give to her.  But I didn’t, and at the end of the day, others got carnations, but Madison came home with nothing.  No carnation for her on Valentine’s Day.  She was disappointed.  I found out about it tonight, and was deeply saddened, of course. 

But here comes God!

Tonight, I had no idea our seats at Medieval Times were right there at the middle front.  We had incredible seats.  Madison loved the show and was so happy tonight.  But here’s the greatest moment:  A handsome knight on horseback rides right up to Madison, extends his hand, and gives her a carnation!  In front of everyone, the knight in shining armor chooses her out of all people there to bless with a carnation.  Madison told me the odds were one in a hundred that she would get chosen.  No Madison, God did that.  He knew you wanted a carnation, and He even arranged for a literal knight in shining armor to come deliver it to you!

I can’t even put in words how grateful I am.  Afterwards, we found that knight in the lobby and Madison posed with him, holding her flower.  

If your dreams aren’t coming true yet, hold on.  God’s got a greater blessing for you just around the corner.  And girls, don’t be too disappointed by Valentine’s Day if you’re still on your own.  And don’t settle.  God has appointed a knight in shining armor for you, and it will be a special moment, and everyone will just know it’s a “God moment.”

_________________

So tonight will forever be linked to that one event.  Camille had told us she did something similar, sending out gifts to everyone and cards - and getting nothing in return.  Even worse, she was believing in her heart with all this super faith that something could happen for her on Valentine's Day, this despite the fact that she got the news that one of her last unmarried childhood friends had just gotten engaged on Valentine's Day.  So she was down, and then she got our email about this little story.  And it encouraged her, that yes, God isn't going to just send anyone along to give her a card, but in fact a real knight in shining armor.

As for the evening itself, we had a wonderful time.  It's a short drive from here, and despite the driving rain, we had safe travels and arrived about forty minutes early.  There was a big accident on the road that delayed us, but we left early enough to still have time to explore the inner lobby of the Medieval Times area.

Suits of armor lined the walls, and there was an exhibit with an owl there, along with various gift shops that sold Medieval items like glowing pink fairy sticks.  When we first arrived, we posed with the queen and her advisor, a guy named Cedrick.  Cedrick the entertainer, I know.

We don't usually buy these sorts of pictures, but this is one where all three of us are in the picture, and it's a nice souvenir of a memorable night at the castle.

There was this great fireplace there as well, a huge thing that was just perfect for a chilly, rainy night. It was nice to sit near for a bit, but it did get a little hot, as Madison will be quick to tell us.

You've by now noticed that Madison wore her Renaissance dress, and there's another word Daddy has trouble spelling.  One of these years I'll get the hang of that one too.  Anyway, she looked beautiful, even with her Medieval Times crown upon her head.  You can see her above, posing with a falconer and her live bird, who would be doing performances for us shortly.  Also there is the royal herald, which is pretty funny because Madison is playing the part of a royal herald on KidPak's stage!

Ah!  Here it is, time to enter the arena area and enjoy the festivities, and the meal as well!  Madison was excited to eat food without using utensils.  For some reason, that's a big deal, almost part of the whole package:  "Hey, we have jousting, costumes, equestrian choreography, a castle, food and as a bonus to everyone:  no silverware!"

We had VIP seating, which meant we went in first, and we sat right there in the front row.  I had no idea of this a few weeks ago when getting the tickets.  We had this perfect view of things, and Mommy and Madison were delighted.  You can see Madison is quite excited to cheer on her knight!

And there he is!  You read the story above, so there's no need to go on about it, but Madison was waving her flag for the yellow knight, who we decided should be called "the gold knight."  Knighthood and "yellow" are two things that don't quite go together so well!

There was a lot of pageantry and spectacle to the evening, with costumes and royal ceremonies - and of course good food.  We're sitting there eating, and the horses are literally a few feet away as they pass by.  You can smell them too, another thing that doesn't quite go hand in hand with eating.  But nevertheless, we did.  Being in Medieval Times gives you some permission to eat in a rather undignified sort of way, right?  Daddy felt like King Henry VIII gnawing on a big hunk of meat.

It's not all about jousting here.  The horses are beautiful, and there were several times where there'd be a choreographed routine, all set to beautiful music and lighting.  This looks like a set of some 80's fantasy movie here!

But it was all very nice.  The older I've gotten, the more I've come to really appreciate the beauty of horse and rider.  God's creation, the horse, is a thing of wonder, and it's easy to enjoy these segments just as much as others that feature knights clashing against one another.

All this was done before the queen, of course, and for her benefit and in her honor.  We just happened to be there to enjoy the show as well, although she was of course a very gracious queen.  She herself would go out riding as well from time to time, particularly before the commencement of the competitions.

They were walking right at us, right up to us.  It was an amazing view, the three of us dead center there.  And as soon as we were done eating, it was time for the games to begin.  Our host got things started, all under dramatic lighting and mysterious music.

This guy was very good at his job, a deep gravely voice that spoke to his royal guests in the King's English, or at least the Queen's English.  It was all very formal, and we were wondering if he used this sort of voice to order fries with at the drive-thru.

"Verily, I beseech thee!  I beckon to my presence a vast amount of fries for my immediate consumption!"

You can see him here, addressing the queen and the royal advisor, who Daddy thought looked like Loki from this angle.    Let the games begin!

One by one, the knights were challenging each other to a joust.  This is a crazy form of combat when you sit and think about it.  I mean, these guys dress up in all this armor and carry these sticks and try and knock each other off their horses.  We're watching all this for fun, but back "in the day," this was serious business!

There was some ceremony beforehand as the knights were once again introduced, and each part of the audience was led to cheer for their knight.  There were six in all, each color coded, and each designed to get a section of the crowd cheering.  We were right there on the line between the "gold" and the blue sections, right at the border.  You could imagine the fun taunting that was going on between the sections.  

As you can see, the Blue Knight meant business.  But other than the Gold Knight - or the "Yellow" one, Daddy's favorite was the Green Knight, just because of that awesome helmet he wore.

I want one of these, just to wear around the house.  It's for fun.  The lighting, as you can see in these pictures, added so much drama to the evening.  The Queen, the herald and the royal advisor look on as the knights engage in combat.  The Royal Advisor has a knight involved in all this, and to begin with there is a bit of suspicion about his motivations.  He certainly looks suspicious, and there's one thing we know about royal advisors in pretty much every movie and story:  never trust a royal advisor.  They're all sneaky and underhanded and wanting to control the king and take over the world.  In fact, I can't remember a single movie or story where there was a decent, honorable royal advisor.  So just the very fact that this guy was a royal advisor to begin with... that makes me very suspicious!

But I digress!  The challenges were put forth, and it was time to commence with the jousting and battling.  The knights were certainly up to it!

Nevertheless, there was plenty of action tonight as these brave knights sparred with one another for glory, and apparently for survival.  I think the official plot line - which was a little overdone in my opinion - was that the knights were dueling to the death, I believe to become a ruler of the kingdom.  The queen didn't want this, because she's the only one with common sense around here.  The knights didn't actually have much of a say in this - outside of one particularly villainous scoundrel.  So they just did as they were told, which was face each other in the hallowed and sacred arena and nobly and honorably attempt to murder each other.

Fortunately, they all had jousting sticks that exploded.  Now I for one love a splintering jousting lance.  All these fragments of jousting lances were flying everywhere with each impactful strike.  The crowd cheered as the attendants to each knight went to get new jousting lances.  Someone call for the attendant!  Okay, serf's up!  Yes, that was a bad joke.

As the evening went along,  we began to realize that they just don't make good jousting lances anymore.

Seriously, there's got to be a splintering lance factory nearby, and they must be making a killing!  I lost count of how many lances exploded tonight.  It was cool though, and everyone was cheering loudly as the knights tried to knock each other down.

It was a great night.  Or a great knight.  Either way, it was a memorable evening, one that Madison has been wanting to do for quite some time.  She was so happy here, just having the greatest time.  We will probably have to come back some day soon - it was all a very fun adventure.

Right now, there's a carnation in a vase on our kitchen table, a reminder of God's promise and love to her.  That's what we'll always remember about this night.  Or knight.  We'll remember God's goodness, and how He looks over us even with these minor details.  When she didn't get a carnation the day before, she got it from someone even better, riding up in shining armor in front of everyone and personally handing her that carnation she so wanted.

It was a night to remember.  Or, a knight to remember!