This Ain't Our First Rodeo

We went to the rodeo again tonight, this time with Ba-Ba, Nana and Mommy as well, and the temperature and sunlight were perfect for the evening.  Getting there an hour later, the sunlight wasn't directly in our faces as it was last time, and that made for a more enjoyable experience, visually.  Last time, we were facing that sun - Madison and Daddy - and there was a bit of squinting initially.  Anyway, we sat in the front, and had a fun time watching all the different events.

You can see here the traditional opening, where the riders parade into the stadium, somewhat like the opening of the Olympics.  There was an opening prayer, and of course the National Anthem.    And not long after all of that, it was time to see the different competitions.

There were all the same events we saw last time, minus a few.  But the biggest things were included so the others could see some ropin' and ridin'.  The cowboys and cowgirls weren't as successful with their performances tonight, with only a handful actually able to stay on the bucking horses, or rope some of the fleeing cattle.  

But it was still an enjoyable experience, and we were surrounded with a pretty enthusiastic crowd, many wearing cowboy hats and cheering loudly for each cowboy and cowgirl.

In between some of the events, there were rodeo clowns entertaining the audience.  All in all, the clowns were a bit funnier last year - in fact the entire rodeo seemed to be a lot smoother last year.  But it was still fun for everyone, and we stayed until the very end, all the way until the last bull rider.

Speaking of which, for the second time in a row - the bulls won.  Last year when we went, there was not a single rider that could make it eight seconds riding a bull.  This year we came close with one rider making it 7.4 seconds.  So close!  But close doesn't count - in order to qualify, you have to make it eight seconds, and out of all the riders - two sections of them - there wasn't a single successful ride tonight.  So Madison and Daddy have been twice and haven't seen a single successful ride yet.  Maybe next year!

The worst part was what you see above, one guy who the bull kept attacking after the fact.  The poor cowboy was already down and flattened, but the bull decided he wasn't flattened enough.  This guy actually had an ambulance ride afterwards, and we were all pretty nervous for a few moments.

It's a scary choice of a profession, bull riding.  I have no idea why people still voluntarily do this, but rodeos make a big deal out of it.  The intense "main event" music plays shortly before it all starts, and the audience has been waiting for this one, the end of the evening and the big finish.  And we all sit and watch as these enraged beasts violently spin and throw themselves in every possible direction, all that weight jerking this way and that in an attempt to hurl this comparatively small cowboy off into the air, with hopes to pound said cowboy into filthy mush afterwards.  It's a crazy thing, rodeo.

We had a good night though, and it was something different for the grandparents, who enjoyed the visit.

Today was a day off for all of us, so we took them over to Goodwill, and then Aldi's afterwards.  We had a nice meal together, something Mommy and Nana prepared, and sat on the front porch for a bit as well, enjoying the cooler temperatures.  It's still warm, but not overwhelmingly so.  The hummingbirds are out there, flitting around the porch, and the day was a good one.  The day is not so good for those south of us in the path of this hurricane though - we're keeping a very close eye on this one, as are many, many others.  It could change a lot of plans dramatically, and as this thing continues to shift in direction, we prayed tonight for those in its path - which for all anyone knows, may be us before it's all said and done!

Together

So everyone is leaving Florida's coast at this point, but things seem to be shifting quite a bit with this hurricane.  It certainly hasn't been barreling anywhere.  It's sort of meandering.  Yes, it's a menacing sort of meandering, but to say it is barreling is to say it is moving in one direction with purpose.  And that's clearly not the case here.  Forecasters have seriously given up at this point, which I find amusing - usually they at least give you a pinpoint forecasted destination for landfall, but by this day, the entire meteorological industry is throwing their collective hands in the air and saying, "Hey, just everyone be ready.  Or maybe not.  Whatever!"

Playing it safe, Nana and Ye-Ye have come up from Florida and are with us now.  When they were leaving, the landfall destination was Daytona.  When they arrived here, the landfall destination was southern Florida, somewhere around West Palm Beach.  And not much later than that, landfall was predicted somewhere in South Carolina.

Still, the Florida coast was in danger of being "grazed," or "scraped," depending on your vocabulary, and the people along the coast would be wise to come inland a bit.  If anything, it's a great chance to visit with relatives, right?

Meanwhile our other grandparents are having a great time ... in Minnesota!

Seriously, I'm jealous.  They've been at the House on the Rock this week and the Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota.  Now this is a destination worth going to, a glorious huge majestic sphere of twine.  They've been sending us pictures of these destinations, and we're loving it here.  If you want to evacuate to somewhere far off and odd, that's the best location I can think of.

It was a shorter school day today with an early release, which was just fine for Madison.  Yesterday, she got to school an hour early, wanting to get there to spend some extra time with her math teacher learning what it was they were being taught this week.  She set the alarm early (and had us up earlier too), and actually went to school an hour early to go to an extra math session.  This was very industrious of her, so much so that Daddy got her some music that she's been wanting.

Speaking of music, Madison has been playing her piano, doing practice as well on the selections her instructor has asked her to do.  But she's also picked - I think - a piano piece to play at Christmas.  I think she's going to play, "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas."  At least, I'm printing the music sheets for that.  It's great printing all these music sheets that she can try out, and hearing them.  Hopefully we'll be hearing more from "The Corpse Bride" again too, as we're about to go into September.  Daddy and Mommy are ready to put the fall decorations up.  Sure, the temperature is kind of warm and it's still technically summer.   But we're all ready to move on here!

Here's the Forkies that Madison and Nana created.  Nana's is to the left and Madison made the other two on the right.  We had the supplies leftover from this past Wednesday night, so we thought it would be fun for Madison to try her hand at creating a Forky.  And why not have Nana try to, right?  They both signed their names to the bottom of the feet there for posterity, a nice collection of Forkies!

We talked a lot tonight with Nana and Ba-Ba, and had a nice meal together.  We're eating soup, mainly because this is something that Ba-Ba can have without upsetting his tummy too much.  He's still super thin, and we've got to hopefully see about getting some weight on him.  He's doing his best, and his spirits are upbeat as always.  This will be a battle he's facing, but Mommy has done this before and made it just fine.  We'll keep with him through it all, and we'll keep praying.  That's what we did tonight after reading, and after all the other fun nightly rituals.  It's great to have the family in the house.  We'll have a good day tomorrow together, because that's how we're going to do things:  together.

A Literal and Metaphorical Storm

Here's our next group of college students at the church.  You can see Daddy in the front row there, ready to host and teach another year, alongside the other staff members of course.  It's going to be a great year, and it might be a crazy one too...

Today was a good day here, although down in Florida, things are more menacing.  The approach of Hurricane Florian has been one of the most unpredictable paths in recollection.  This one seems to defy forecasters left and right to the point that today, meteorologists were collectively saying, "Forget it!"  And just being honest, telling us all, "Look, it's going to hit somewhere on the East Coast.  Maybe."

Regardless, the safest path for Nana and Ba-Ba was northward, away from any coast at all, and into our home.  They made the safe journey upward without any incident.  At least until they got to Henry County.  Yes, they called you out by name, Henry County.  They don't even know of my personal animosity towards the interstate system through your county, and yet today we shared that all too common thing that is said about Henry County:  "We were driving along just fine, until we hit all that traffic in Henry County."  How many people say that on a daily basis is not possible to actually count at this point, as many of them are still technically stuck in traffic there at this moment as I type this.

At least they made it here safely, despite the Lord of the Rings journey they made to get here.  They arrived safely in the evening, and all of us were watching the forecasters sputter and struggle to find the right thing to say.  Despite this, it was a happy reunion today, all this during the other storm that is going on.

Tonight we had taekwondo, and Madison was looking sharp with her skills with the combat stick, all this while Daddy was doing a bit of writing for the new series.  This has been more of a struggle to write, but the end result turned out pretty decent.  The kids have really responded to this series, of course, but this is largely due to the efforts of Mommy and the costuming.  The actors have been overwhelmed by the response, seeing all these kids rushing forward and saying things like, "I met the real Buzz Lightyear!"

Anyway, it was a good day today.  There is a hint of menace in the air.  The other storm we mentioned above is the diagnosis for Ba-Ba.  He's been meeting with surgeons and next week - weather pending - an oncologist.  We'll see how things progress there, but the progress is moving rather slowly at present.  We'd love all this to be gone, of course.  We prayed tonight for him, and for all of us, and for everyone in the path of this storm.  The folks in the Bahamas are enduring first - it's a slow moving monster.  We prayed against both of these slow progressing storms, that they would weaken and die.  Peace, be still.

Forkies

Tonight, we had ordered all the supplies that were needed so that every child could walk away with their own DIY Forky.  Forky, of course, is the new character from "Toy Story 4."  Daddy brought home what was needed so that Mommy and Madison could make their own versions too!  Here are the ones that Nana and Madison made at home, which they had fun making.

Madison spent a good deal of time studying math, studying exponents and so forth.  It takes a lot of concentration - and speaking of which, we made this great game of concentration today for the kids.  It was based on "You've Got a Friend in Me," where we were matching up famous duos like Buzz and Woody, or Mal and Evie, or Batman and Robin.  Speaking of which, we just saw that last "Batman and Robin" movie with Adam West, and it was really fun and nostalgic.  Daddy used to watch that television show growing up, and it was great hearing some of the original cast reprising their roles in an animated production.  Sadly, it's going to be the last one.  But it was great visiting with something that is a bit of camp, but reverent at the same time.

Today we were watching the opening of Galaxy's Edge at Disney, and maybe thinking about visiting there soon enough.  We may be there in October, perhaps.  A lot depends on other things going on, but our fall vacation time is coming up soon, and we're dreaming of going off and doing something somewhere, just to get away.

Madison is enjoying school still, and the year is moving along.  August is already coming and going, and that's pretty amazing how fast it just went by.  Mommy is anxious to get the fall decor out, but we have this little clock inside, and can't justify putting it out until after Labor Day.  But believe me, once Labor Day comes and goes, that fall decor is going up and out!

Maine Lobster and Wicked Whoppers

You can see above what we had for lunch today.  Our new friends from Maine sent us a thank you gift, and it arrived at the church this morning.  The thank you gift was five live lobsters and a five Wicked Whoppers.  We'll get to the whoppers in a moment, but first, the lobster.

Many years ago, Nana and Ye-Ye took us to Bar Harbor, and that was the last time I've eaten lobster like this.  We ate it at the table with the little bibs and all that.  No bibs today, which was funny at one moment because Josh's lobster claw exploded and splattered him with water and lobster.

We got ears of corn and potato salad, and as you can see above, Mommy prepared the lobster.  We watched a short video beforehand, one that demonstrated the best way to prepare the lobster.  First of all, the obvious question:  were these really live lobsters?  Yes, they were.  The "humane" way of preparing them is "putting them to sleep" in the freezer for thirty minutes to one hour beforehand.  Then, as these weighed one and a quarter pounds, we put them in boiling water for nine to ten minutes.  Afterwards, Mommy had them set up in a wonderful presentation, and after that, we put them on the table and posed for a group shot together.

The lobster was delicious, and it took a bit of work to get to all the edible parts, but that's part of this unique experience.  Well, it's unique for us here in Georgia.  Maine residents are more familiar with it, of course.  Mommy had melted quite a bit of butter, and by the end of the meal, everyone was more than full.  Josh picked up lemons, and we even picked up a few extra lobster tails from the grocery store on the way home.  It was a great afternoon together, and only a few of us had enough room for dessert - those Wicked Whoppers!

No problem though - Madison could handle one of those no problem!

We had a good day today, of course with taekwondo in the evening as things roll along.  She's been working on her form, along with everyone else of course, and that seems to be going a lot better than the previous practices.  This may be because of the amount of time she's been practicing it lately - the summer months make it more difficult to stay consistent with practice times.  We should be at a blue belt confirmed by October.

We watched a few episodes of Clone Wars tonight, and we watched the weather forecast:  there's something ominous on the horizon, that is if you look southeast of here.  Hurricane Florian is on the way, and that is looking to shape our weekend somewhat, but the people in Florida perhaps even more so.

Madison practiced her piano a little, and told us she had a good day at school today.  One of her projects in her science class is a study of the release of wolves in Yellowstone.  She's going to be debating that in a few days, although she doesn't know what side of the debate she's on right now.  So she's taking notes on that, which as we close, I can share below.

Things We Already Knew

1. Without wolves, elks will overgraze the park
2. Animals’ population decreased a lot
3. Rivers were damaged
4. There were less animals, grass, and berries

Pros

1. Wolves will help boost the ecotourism opportunities

The program will encourage tourists to visit and see the wolves based off advocates of the wolf  program

2. Wolves will keep the YellowStone population balanced

Before the wolves were reintroduced, the elks’ population doubled and other decreased.

3. Controlling wolves to avoid them hunting livestock

Wolves would eat other farm animals, and now they have devices to control them

4. Wolf protection would be provided for farmers and ranchers

Cons

1. Comes at an expense for tax payers
2. They can harm the livelihoods of people where they hunt
3. They have a history of attacking people under certain circumstances
4. Wolves from other regions can mix in instead

Lebanon

We had a cool, overcast day, a preview of fall.  And it was magical.  The biggest topic of conversation today was how wonderful the temperature was, and how sudden of a change all of this was.  We were super hot, and now suddenly things dropped fifteen degrees or more.

  Madison studied for a test in English and Language Arts tonight, and prepared for a presentation on Lebanon as well.  She didn't pick the country, and of course would have loved to have done something with Israel.  Instead, she got Lebanon, which we informed her was also in the Bible, although nowhere near as important as Israel.  It has great trees though.

"Those who do what is right will grow like a palm tree.
    They will grow strong like a cedar tree in Lebanon." - Psalm 92:12 NIRV

Madison is working on her Lebanon project with a classmate, and even working on a slide show to go along with it.

We'll probably all learn a little something about Lebanon.  Daddy was pretty close to Lebanon a few years ago, and remembers the bomb shelters set up for families in northern Israel because someone in Lebanon was launching missiles at civilian areas.  So we were slightly nervous while near Lebanon, though that's been a few years now.  Of course the very idea of going to visit a country like Lebanon seemed unlikely.  The trees there must have been nice at one time, but beyond that, all I know is that Beirut is the capital, and those of us from the 80's don't have the best associations spring to mind when hearing the word "Beirut."

Anyway, Madison was also studying math, and the power of power and quotient.  Whatever that means.  Of course, we have a vague sense of what all this math is, but it requires some effort to work through it all, and we're not much help to Madison, I'm afraid.  We can help with science, social studies and language arts.  But math is another thing altogether!  She's studying hard this year though, having to work a little harder to get a better grade.

Madison was practicing her piano tonight in class, working on Pachelbel's Canon in D again, with both hands, and learning a slightly newer arrangement.  Madison likes this piece of music very much.

We got home and had a great dinner, with Mommy making chicken Marsalis for us tonight.  Madison had pizza.  Her staple diet is pizza, chicken nuggets, tater tots, tikka masala, and tacos on Tuesdays.  We're trying to get her to branch out from time to time, believe me.  But rarely does something capture her interest enough to warrant having a new item on the menu.  The tikka masala was a big moment for us, something new to have on a weekly basis.  Plus, it helps that Mommy and Daddy like that too.

We did some Christmas shopping today while Madison was at school.  Mommy was at the dentist this morning, getting the last of that tooth work done, and then afterwards we were at Cracker Barrel for a lunch date.  While there, we noted some items on a clearance sale, and just like that we were Christmas shopping for Madison.  Yes, we have some items already gathered - you can't start too early!

Our newest programming on the television includes watching old episodes of "The Clone Wars."  We're going through those from teh beginning now, and Madison is good with that.  We're wanting to watch them so we can get ourselves more up to date when the new Disney channel's final seasons premiere.  So here we go again with young Ahsoka and all the rest.

Tonight we read from our book with Mara Jade, and of course our devotional.  The rain came later on tonight, and before we woke up this morning as well, so it was somewhat of a damp day.  It's been a good one though!

Toy Box 2

Our second Sunday with the Toy Box series was a big success, with a stellar message based on the classic phrase and song, "You've got a friend in me."  You can see the cast above, the costuming that Mommy helped put together.  Madison is right there in the center as a sheep, and Daddy is even in this picture along with a few other Pizza Planet employees.  Everyone's here for this group shot, including Mr. Potato Head.  That costume and the one for Rex are both really great!

One of the gags of this skit was Nerdo repeatedly calling out, "Bonnie's coming!"  You can see he did that above, and all the toys immediately drop down, pretending to be inanimate toys again.  I got this idea from the fact that apparently in Disney - for a time, I hope - there was a thing you could do with the Toy Story characters, and that was this:  call out, "Andy's coming!"  Immediately, everyone drops to the ground, as you see above.  Or, at least they freeze in place.  I was picturing how annoying that must be for cast members when a certain kid won't stop calling it out.  And that's Nerdo here.  He was making it hard to like himself, but that is all related to the fact that he's a toy made for a practical joke store.

Of course, all the other characters decide to befriend him anyway, making for our bottom line.  You can see Madison and her other sheep friends doing their standard joke, using the word "baaaaad" about three or four times during the course of the skit.  Rex stands by, ready to worry about something here - Clint did a great job with his voice from the sound booth.

And on stage, Pastor Lance did a fantastic job with the message.  It was a great, exciting morning.  The kids couldn't contain themselves when they saw the costumes.  There was so much noise in the auditorium today, and long lines afterwards so people could pose with the characters.

We're only two weekends into this series, and already it's been a big success.  Mommy did such a wonderful job with the costumes, and the set is fantastic.  I really feel like we're doing it all justice.  We'll see what happens next week though - Mr. Potato Head has a story to tell, and we'll have to wait and see what happens next!

After service, the characters were out greeting, and as you can see below, after both services, people took group shot after group shot of all the characters hanging out in the lobby.

The videos, music and skit were good.  At one point, the three Pizza Planet employees came out - that was Daddy too - and we led a "Toy Story Trivia" game, one that the boys won in the first service, but the girls trounced the boys in the second service.  Who is the first Toy Story character you see in the first movie?

The answer again is Mr. Potato Head!  Speaking of which, check him out in the picture below, our standard goofy pose picture.

He's a Picasso!  Anyway, it was a great morning, and afterwards a great afternoon.  We rested this afternoon, after eating calzones and doing some piano work.  Daddy was writing some, and both Mommy and Madison had time for separate baths, and just some down time.  Tonight we popped in a movie Daddy just got in the mail as part of a rewards program.  I actually ordered "The Muppet Movie," beacause Madison had never seen it before.  And it's been years since I've seen it.  But it was still so good!  I could go on and on about the Muppets.  Rowlf is always my favorite, but I love Zoo too.  And Sweetums.  And Animal.  And Statler and Waldorf.  And ... oh, who am I kidding.  I love the Muppets.  Madison hadn't seen this movie yet, and it's been a long time since I'd seen it.  But I still know all the songs by heart, and afterwards, Madison found "The Rainbow Connection" on piano sheet music.  We might be entering a Muppet movie marathon here, maybe - I don't know.  I just wanted to see this one when I saw my rewards points could get for a small amount of points.

Anyway, it was a great day today.  After hide-and-seek, we read from teh devotional and the Star Wars book, and then after that we prayed and there were zerberts and the Imperial March humming to go with the deep red infuser there.  And the stinky insults too.  Like "Goodnight Luke Stenchwalker!"  And so on.  It was a great day, and a cool day today, with the temperatures dropping significantly.  It felt wonderful out there today!  We're supposed to get rain tonight, but we'll see.  Either way, things seem to be nice out there now, and tomorrow is shaping up to be a great day too!

Bully Prevention Unit

This morning Madison attended a special seminar, one designed to help with confidence, knowledge and skill when dealing with bullies.  You can see the group of kids below, and before I go any further, heaven help the kid who ever pushes Madison too far.  I mean, she's got a particular set of skills, and when she's attacking the cushions, she's got this flurry of strikes and a furious shout, "I said STOP!"

The kids started talking a bit, and then it was time for exercise, running around the room a few times and then doing jumping jacks, push-ups and so forth.

The kids always get into the cardio portion of the classes, and then of course they really get into the strikes and kicks.

But the class of course was not all about the physical aspects of standing up for yourself.  It was more about self-awareness and self-control, and being able to know what to do as a final option.  Having that as a weapon can increase your confidence levels, and we know each of these classes Madison attends help here physically and emotionally too, preparing her with discipline and a new boldness.

After class, Daddy was taking pictures of another self defense class for adults, and in the meantime, Madison and a few of the other waiting kids had created something in the extra training room:

This may look just like an art installation on the top floor of the High Museum, but is in fact an obstacle course!  The kids were having fun with this after their training, running through one side, and then back again towards the starting line.  They were comparing their course to American Ninja Warrior, a show Madison likes to watch.

We got home afterwards, and it was there we had a nice lunch, something Mommy prepared for us.  The rain came today, and it was so wonderful that we sat out on the porch to enjoy the downpour, reading and just relaxing in the cooler temperatures, listening to the downpour.

Madison played piano today, but didn't do much in the way of homework - she didn't have anything assigned presently to study, and that's okay.  She was on her computer for a bit, and then also watching a movie we just got for free, where some of the Avengers meet up with Phineas and Ferb, and Perry the Platypus too.  That led us to watching a few episodes of Phineas and Ferb, something we hadn't done in a while.  Those episodes still hold up, and are still lots of fun!

Also, we continued our "Agent Carter" fest tonight, as Madison wanted to watch the first Captain America movie again.  So that we did, until it was time for the nightly rituals of hide-and-seek, reading, prayers, and zerberts.  It was a good day, one made better by the rain here.  But we had a great morning at the martial arts school, and tomorrow should be a nice morning at KidPak.

Hot and Dry

Daddy finished writing for the next chapter of our ongoing series, and I'm pretty much making it up as I go along - but it's turning out well, thanks to an idea from a visit to the Magic Kingdom, coupled with a few direct references to the first movies, some callbacks to a few great quotes.  We'll post it below, just because.

The rain didn't come by us today, in fact it's been skirting just north of us the last few times.  Lumpkin and White County have been getting hammered lately, while we're pretty dry.  We've got some new plants out there - a lot of new ones.  So Daddy and Madison were out there watering all the plants, thirty seconds per, and it took forty-five minutes or so just for the two of us to water all of them.  That's how many new transplants we have - the area is looking so nice now.

The weather is sunny out there, but there's supposed to be a cooling trend coming, and that will be perfectly wonderful for all of us.  In the meantime, today was a little hot again.

Madison turned in her second chapter of her biography today, and now we're working towards "the future," which I think has to do with what she wants to do as she gets older.  She begins each chapter with a quote, and for this chapter, she's decided to start a quote about the future with Jeremiah 29:11, which is one of everyone's favorite scriptures.

Daddy and Mommy were at the office today, testing out the inflatable suits, making sure the fans work for this weekend - we have a few inflatable suits that you'll see soon enough.  We got our writing done, and things are all settled, at least for this weekend.

While we were out, we picked up "Endgame" to watch at home, and that's a pretty long movie.  Tonight, we don't have any plans, so now our evening is completely full - it's a three-hour movie.  And what a movie it is, completely epic and moving.  This has only fueled more Marvel love for Madison, who wants to see Agent Carter again tomorrow night, watching, "Captain America:  the First Avenger."  It seems a lifetime ago that we were watching that first movie in theaters, and here we are at the end of this era.  I think that's the thing that was the most moving for all of us watching these movies these last ten or eleven years.  Stan Lee's passing only cemented it:  this is the end of something remarkable, over twenty movies of storytelling that led up to this one final chapter.

Afterwards, we read tonight, and said our prayers.  It's been a good day, and tomorrow will be good too, starting with a class Madison was wanting to attend at the martial arts school.  Join us tomorrow to see what's up with that, but in the meantime, here's the script for Sunday...

KidPak Adventures:  Toy Box

You’ve Got a Friend in Me

CUE SLIDE: ANDY’S ROOM

CUE TRACK:  1 TOY STORY 2 GAME MENU SCREEN

CAST is at CENTER STAGE, frozen in place.

NARRATOR:  “It’s playtime!  It’s a happy reunion for the toys, but what is up with this new character that has just walked in?”

LIGHTS ON
CUE TRACK:  2 BUILD TOWN (END at 2:30)
NERDO:  “You’re not going to believe what I just found!”

WOODY:  “What is it?”

BO PEEP:  “Who are you?”

GI-JOJO:  “Whyare you?”

BUZZ:  (stepping forward, explaining)  “This is Nerdo.  He’s uh… he’s uh…”

JESSIE:  (super excited, pointing)  “He’s a nerd!”

BUZZ:  “Yes, exactly.  He’s a nerd action figure.”

WOODY:  “A nerd action figure?”

NERDO:  “I’m a prototype, thank you very much.  (looking downcast)  That’s what my first owner called me, anyway.”

REX:  “Nerdo is a toy that Bonnie found alongside the road. He was banged up a little, but she loves him just the same.”

WHEEZY:  “He must have gotten tossed out a car window! That’s even worse than getting sold at a yard sale!  And believe me, I know…”

BO PEEP:  “Tossed alongside the road?  That sounds…well…  It sounds…”

BILLY, GOAT, GRUFF: “Baaaaaad!”

BO PEEP:  (to BILLY, GOAT and GRUFF) “Yes, that’s it.  Thank you very much.”

BILLY, GOAT, GRUFF: “Baaaaaa!”

WOODY:  “Well, it sounds like you have a home now, partner. So what exactly isa nerd action figure anyway?”

NERDO:  “I’m a Prototype!  Not a nerd action figure!  (downcast again) They were going to sell me in a practical joke store.  (seeing everyone look at him with blank stares) Just press the button on my back, and you’ll see.”

BO PEEP:  “Should we?”

BUZZ:  “I don’t see why not.”

REX:  “Oooh, I’m scared!”

GI-JOJO:  “Come on, people.  It’s not like this is going to kill anyone.”

CAST steps forward, gathering around NERDO.

GI-JOJO:  “One…two… three!”

GI-JOJO reaches forward and presses an area on NERDO’s BACK.

CUE SOUND EFFECT:  RUDE NOISE

GI-JOJO:  “Hit the dirt!”

CAST falls back, gasping.

GI-JOJO:  “It’s like tear gas!”

WHEEZY:  “Now everyoneelseis wheezy too!”

JESSIE:  “Well, I ain’t smelled anything that bad since our time with Stinky Pete!”

WOODY:  “And if that’s the worst thing about you, then I don’t think we…”

NERDO:  “BONNIE’S COMING!”

ALL CAST drops to the ground, lying down, except BUZZ and REX, who freeze in place with an exaggerated pose.

NERDO freezes for a moment too, but looks around, and starts laughing.

CAST slowly rises, confused.

NERDO:  “I got you so good!”

REX:  “I thought Bonnie was really coming back to the room! Great, now I have trust issues!”

JESSIE:  “Nerdo, if brains were dynamite, you wouldn’t have enough to blow your nose!”

NERDO:  “Hey, that’s not nice!”

WOODY:  “Well if the boot fits!”

NERDO:  “Say that again.”

WOODY:  “Well if that boo-tah… fit-sss!”

NERDO:   “I have only one thing to say to you, Mister!”

WOODY:  “What’s that?”

NERDO:  “BONNIE’S COMING!”

ALL CAST drops to the ground, lying down, except BUZZ and REX, who freeze in place with an exaggerated pose.

NERDO freezes for a moment too, but looks around, and starts laughing.

CAST slowly rises, confused.

NERDO:  “I got you again!”

BUZZ:  “Nerdo, on my planet we forgive people for repeatedly pulling cruel pranks, and emitting noxious gasses into the atmosphere.”

NERDO:  “Well that’s a relief.”

BUZZ: “But we’re not onmy planet, are we?”

CAST surrounds NERDO with menace, except BO PEEP and WHEEZY

REX:  “Uh!  I don’t like confrontation!”

NERDO:  “Oh my stars!”

BO PEEP:  “Now hold on!  Everyone stay calm, and don’t do something…”

BILLY, GOAT, GRUFF: “Baaaaaad!”

BO PEEP:  (to BILLY, GOAT and GRUFF) “Yes, that.  (to OTHERS)  Nobody’s perfect.  Each of us can be really irritating or bad in our own annoying way.  I’m looking at you, Rex.”

REX:  “Hey!”

BO PEEP:  “But we’re all like lost sheep.  Despite all our flaws, God loves us all the same.  And because He does, we should do our best to love one another too.”

NERDO:  “I didn’t mean to get everyone mad.  You see, I was made for a practical joke store, so it’s kind of in my nature. I’m sorry!”

WHEEZY:  “It’s okay!  When I first showed up here, I didn’t think people liked me very much. But you all treated me like friends, and now you know something?”

CUE TRACK:  3 TOY STORY 2 GAME MENU SCREEN

WOODY:  “You’re going to sing the song again?”

WHEEZY:  “Yes.  Because…You got a friend in me.  You got a friend in me.  When the road looks rough ahead, and you’re miles and miles from your nice warm…”

MR. POTATO HEAD’S VOICE (offstage):  “BONNIE’S COMING!”

CUT MUSIC

ALL CAST drops to the ground, lying down, except BUZZ and REX, who freeze in place with an exaggerated pose.

CAST slowly rises, confused.

GI-JOJO:  “Okay, I’ve about had it with that joke!  It was really…”

BILLY, GOAT, GRUFF: “Baaaaaad!”

GI-JOJO:  (pointing at the sheep) “And I’ve had it with that joke too!”

REX:  “Bonnie’s not really here!  I’m so confused!  I’m a nervous Rex!” 

WOODY:  “Okay, very funny, whoever did that.”

JESSIE:  “Whoever it is, maybe they want to do a test flight out the window.”

MR. POTATO HEAD enters STAGE RIGHT

BUZZ:  “I’ve already done that once, Jessie.  If it weren’t for Woody here… (noticing MR. POTATO HEAD) Hey, what are you doing here?”

JESSIE:  “Potato Head?”

MR. POTATO HEAD: “That’s MisterPotato Head!  And have I got a story for you!”

CUE TRACK:  3 TOY STORY 2 GAME MENU SCREEN

NARRATOR:  “What is this story?  And where has Mr. Potato Head actually been?  If you want to find out what happens next, you’d best join us next time as we dive into the KidPak Adventures:  Toy Box!”

Autobiography, Part Two

Madison was working on the second chapter of her autobiography today, and it was amusing to read through, as she's filtered parts of conversations about historical family moments, or mixed up a few facts she's heard along the way.  We corrected these together tonight, and Daddy helped her overall with basic grammar.  But on the whole, she did very well.  I am by no means a grammar expert.  In fact, to this day, I still double space after each sentence ends, because that's the way I was taught in high school.  But grammar changes, and now people like me don't do as well on term papers!  Still, I think she managed to do a decent job with the next part of her autobiography, which we'll post below here in a moment.

Tonight we had taekwondo, which involves whacking each other with combat sticks, something that is thrilling for Madison.  Being allowed to hit someone else with a  stick is a highlight of the day!  Of course, there's more to it than that:  she was doing her form, and even sparring a little.  Today the students tested, and all of them did well enough to earn their first stripe on their belts.  Madison has a few months to go, but she'll be changing belts again, should everything proceed as planned, sometime in December.  We keep looking at this time line, from time to time, and it is astonishing to think about:  Madison might be a black belt by eighth grade.

Today at school she was working with true journalism, which involves interviewing other people.  She was out in the field, interviewing eighth graders, which made her nervous, but she went out there anyway and just like the hard-hitting reporter that she is, Madison got the scoop!  She initially was writing her notes down, but then started to record her interviews with an app on her handheld device. This is just like what the reporters do, recording all the information and keeping in "on the record."

We spent so long on our homework tonight - proofing and so forth - that we didn't have time to watch a movie or play games, but we did read some more from our book, about this insane jedi.  We said our prayers, and Daddy went to work after that writing the next part of the Toy Box skits on stage.  I think it turned out well, and might share that here this weekend.  But for now, we'll close with what Madison wrote, her next chapter of her autobiography:

Chapter 2- My Biological And Adopted Family Tree  (我的生物和采用的家谱)

“The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life”- Richard Bach

Family is one of the best and most important things in life, even if at times it doesn’t seem like it. Family isn’t always related by blood, but instead by the memories we make with each other. My family that I have isn’t my biological family, but we’ll always be connected with respect, joy, and love for one another.

I was born in the province, Guang Xi, China (in the southern part of China), on June 15, 2006, but my adopted family doesn’t know when I was actually born. My name was Long Mei Yang. When I was almost 1 year old, I was left at an orphanage called the Cangwu Social Welfare Institute. No one claimed me, so the orphanage took me in. They assumed that since I had teeth, I must be about 1 year old. I spent about one year at the orphanage, while my parents were getting ready to adopt me.

On June 30, when I was 2 years and 15 days old, my parents finally adopted me. I was so frightened because I had never been with anyone but the orphanage caregivers. Of course, almost all the other babies were crying, too. After a little while, we made the trip to my new home in the United States. It was a whole new world to me, but I got to meet my new family. The first family members I met met were my mom, dad, and grandparents from my father’s side. I just knew life would only be getting better for me, and it did. To this day, I’m very grateful that I was adopted into my family. I’ve never known anything about my biological family, not even now.  But perhaps someday I will, and someday I can return to China to visit the country I was born in.

My mother’s name is Zena Georgina Green, now Cypher. She was born in New York, New York, on May 8, 1956. She moved to Roswell, Georgia, in 1986. My mom was a nanny for a while before she got married to my dad. My mom has a brother named George, who now lives in Ohio with his wife, Heidi, and one of their two sons, Brandon. My mom is the one who usually cooks. She prepares a lot of good meals for us, like tika and tacos. She also frequently makes sweet tea for us, or even water infused with oranges, limes, cucumbers, and/or mint from our garden in it. She makes a delicious watermelon sorbet! Since neither my dad nor I know how to do the laundry, she does the laundry, too.  Just before adopting me, my mother was diagnosed with an advanced form of cancer. It was something she had to spend a lot of time fighting. She went through radiation treatments and chemotherapy, and says that her dreams of adopting me were one thing that helped her win her fight against cancer.

I’ve only met my Uncle George, Aunt Heidi, and cousin Brandon once, and that was in 2017. They were really nice. We played a few vicious rounds of Uno one day, and Brandon had ended up with twenty cards by the end of the game. Brandon is going to college to be an engineer, and dreams of working for NASA. Their other son, Mark, has a job with the Air Force. Uncle George is a pilot, so it seems as if working with airplanes runs in the family. Before they went back to Ohio, they gave me a pink bracelet with a turtle on it, and a blue turtle made of glass. I was very happy to meet them. 

My grandmother from my mother’s side is from England, and my grandfather is from New York. My grandfather was in the Air Force and worked for an insurance company before retiring to live in Florida, where they live now. They used to live closer to Orlando, Florida, at a golf course. We would go to Disney World and Disney Springs a lot each time we visited. Now, they live in a Daytona Beach Shores condo right on the coast. Every time we visit them, we are able to go on the beach almost every day.

My father’s  name is David Patrick Cypher. He was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, on October 31, 1970. He has a sister named Shain Cypher. They moved to Cleveland, Georgia, in 1983. After high school, my dad went to college to become a teacher. When he finished college, he was offered a job to work at the church I go to now. My dad accepted the offer, and has been happy there ever since. My dad is usually the one that teases around with me a lot. He also reads each night to me. We play a lot of video games together.

My grandparents on my father’s side live in Hall County just off of Browns Bridge Road. My family used to live nextdoor to them before moving to where we live now in Forsyth County. My grandfather was in the Navy, serving aboard a submarine. My grandfather’s ancestry is largely from Ireland, and Germany as well.  One of his ancestors was a deacon at a church in Sleepy Hollow during the time that Washington Irving wrote his famous story about the Headless Horseman. Quite a few of our ancestors are buried in the cemetery at the old church just past the covered bridge that Ichabod Crane tried to make it across safely. Our grandparents have 3 dogs, but they used to have about five.  They absolutely love animals. They also have a cat that sleeps on their front porch. Inside, they have fish and birds that they also have to take care of.

My Aunt Shain married a man named David Berry. A few years later, my aunt had 2 sons, Jonathan and David-Austin Berry. In 2002, my cousin, Hannah Berry, was born. She was born on July 2. I would be so excited when I saw Hannah coming over. We were best friends.  A few years later, when I was in 3rd grade, my uncle passed away. We were all very sad when that happened, especially our cousins and aunt.

My parents met when they were going to bible college. My mother’s birthday was coming up, and she had no one to take her out to celebrate, so my father arranged a special evening at a nice restaurant in Atlanta.  Sometime after that, they started to date. In 2000, my parents finally got married. For their honeymoon, they went to Hawaii.

Both of my parents help at my church, Free Chapel. My dad does many things there.  He speaks to large groups, does graphic designs, and acts on stage. He also writes the skits, devotionals, and sermon booklets. He is also the head of the drama crew, which I’m part of now. My mom is a photographer and creates costumes and props as well. They both work in the kids department of the church, a place called KidPak. One reason they both began working there had to do with me.  They were planning to adopt soon, and wanted to spend more time in the nursery. One of the staff members there had seen them and asked them if they’d like to work in KidPak instead of the nursery. My parents said yes, and now they work with children from kindergarten to 6th grade.

Through those years, I’ve enjoyed going to church, and loved being with my family.  We’ve had many happy memories together, all of them connected with respect, joy, and love. Though I’m not related to them by blood, they are in every way my true family, and one of the best and most important things in life.