Finger Log Rolling

Today we entered the fierce and competitive world of Finger Log Rolling!  Madison had won the recent game with the small group night, so Camille had sent yet another gift to her that arrived last night.  Madison opened it up and had no idea what log rolling was.  So we looked up a video or two about it, and with this little finger log rolling set is a book that explains log rolling, lumberjacks, and even flapjacks.  It's a fun little set!  So yes, we decided this afternoon to actually fill the container with water, and give it a try!

We filmed another contest, one where Madison won that time.  And I think we're getting close to ready for the official finger log rolling contests, whenever they're announced.  Just a bit more training, and I think we have a shot at winning a prize!

This morning we had two more KidPak services, of course, and Madison and I were there to serve and attend.  Madison was at the main sanctuary for the first service, and then helping with us at the second.  This morning's skit was the best one so far - you can see Dr. Avalanche above with his prized llama.  This is the one that Nana and Mom went out to get Thursday, and it was perfect for the skit.  The yeti made a huge appearance that got all the kids laughing and screaming, and of course there was a bottom line in there about Elijah on Mt. Carmel.  We were talking about what we see versus what reality is, and how we have to see with faith.  So we did some optical illusions too, showing how our eyes can easily be deceived.  We reignited the classic blue and black dress vs. gold and white dress debate, and it's still fascinating how many people see it one way while half the other people see it another.

I did my walk today when we got home, right through Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho, this during the snow.  I've been there a few times in the past in person, but never during so much snow.  It was beautiful there.  And probably cold.  This thirty-five minute walk was really good, but I wish I can get back out there some day soon.

Madison was working a lot when we got home, starting with piano practice, and then studying for Spanish.  After that, she was doing some side art project she's been working on a few days, just coloring in some grids in a nice pattern.  We'll have to share that here when it is finished.

Tonight we were watching something from the Animal Kingdom, a program we might continue watching as the week goes on.  It featured a bit about giraffes, which are pretty much my favorite animal.  So we had to watch it.  But also there was a bit with elephants, and an adorable chicken named Popcorn.

We headed to bed early tonight - tomorrow is school.  But of course we read from the Bible, from Matthew, and from "Scoundrels."  We're really getting going on the heist now!  As for the Bible reading, it was right at the point where John the Baptist died, and how Jesus needed to be alone.  Nevertheless, he was hounded by people with needs, and rather than get annoyed, he felt compassion.  He healed their sick, and even fed them - well over 5,000.  And then right after that walked on water, crossed the lake, and didn't stop healing other people as well.  Intense!

We said our prayers tonight, and said goodbye to January.  It's been a decent month, all things considered.  

Divine Children's Conference

So we had a long day today.  Madison took this photo of the chapel as we were coming in to the church as the sun was rising.  It was cold outside, but the sun would eventually heat things up to a more moderate temperature.  

Here's another photo she took as well with her phone.  She brought it along in case there were any moments where she just wanted to stop and relax, but there in fact were not any for her, and we'll get to that in just a moment.  Before we do, one more morning photo from her:

I was waiting for her, very cold, but you can't rush art.  She stood there in the parking lot and was snapping pictures of the rising sun.  One more photo and we'll move on:

So we had an entire day with the kids, and the initial numbers of children registered were so great that everyone came in from all campuses to run children's services from somewhere around nine to around three.  We had a lunch break in between, but earlier, we had to plan out exactly what we were going to do with the kids for that entire time.  What would a service be like, and so on?  The end result worked out, with games and videos and some of our classic movies that we do at KidPak, a "Tribes" video and the "Heroes" one as well, in addition to some KPTV videos interspersed with live games, all of that with masks on and socially distant. 

For the entire day, Madison was a big help, the perfect volunteer.  She was escorting kids to the bathroom when needed, and taking food to them and cleaning up too.  There was a big pizza break in between for lunch, and she enjoyed that.  I didn't, of course.  I need to stay away from that sort of pizza.  Anyway, she snapped some of these pictures in the office afterwards, just before we left - which was around 3:45 or so.

  

It was a full day for us, as there's a lot of wear-and-tear on the energy when you're dealing with kids for several hours straight.  We came home, and I did manage to do a treadmill walk, this time through a city park in China.  We watched a few episodes we've seen before, both of "WandaVision" and "The Mandalorian" as well.  Mom and Nana have been watching some Shirley Temple movies, and doing some cleaning up around the house, although not outside the house.  It's January still, and certainly still cold for that.

We closed the night with a reading from Matthew, and also from "Scoundrels," followed by prayers over the family.  It was a busy day for us, but it went well.  Time to do a new one tomorrow!

Hexagons and Pyramix

Nice morning.  Cold, but nice!  Mom was up late with her usual difficulties, but she set things up for us this morning so we could get out the door and go through our routines, including one of Madison's staples for breakfast, cinnamon toast.  

It was a nice day.  Madison got a 100 on a social studies test, and is doing well in that class, as they're studying the Reconstruction Era after the Civil War.  Gotta' watch out from them Yankee carpetbaggers!

No piano or taekwondo tonight, but there was something else:

This has become one of those "must-see tv" events lately, and tonight was another episode we were all talking about.  A lot of the children's pastors were throwing around theories tonight, and it was funny hyper-analyzing the episode with them, with Madison throwing her input in too.  One question about the show that hasn't been figured out is "why the hexagons?"  That shape keeps popping up, and Madison is quick to spot it in different places.

Okay, that's a picture from our sanctuary at church.  We've had those hexagons since the beginning the pandemic, right about the time that the show was being filmed here in Georgia.  It's funny how Madison spots these so quickly.

I finished the script for Sunday today, and it should be fun.  More of the yeti, of course.  Mom was working on fixing up that yeti today, adding some nice buttons for the back.  She also went out and got a rainbow llama, another prop for the skit.  Madison is going to want that one when we're done with it!

Here's a bucket list item!  I've solved two different types of puzzles on my own, this one and a "missing link" puzzle.  The "Missing Link," or "Whip It," was actually pretty easy to figure out.  This Pyramix was a bit more challenging.  I watched a video or two on how to solve it, but just couldn't get those algorithms figured out in my head.  So I did it on my own using a bit of intuition.  It was pretty mixed up, and it completely surprised me when I did a set of moves that got it solved.  I used to be a big fan of these games, and I had several of them when they were super popular at the beginning.  I couldn't solve any of them though.  Except the "Snake" of course.  That's not exactly a puzzle though.  The big one is the Rubik's cube, and I've solved it once, but just can't seem to get those algorithms memorized to finish it off.  Some day though!  That's one of those life goals.  By gum!

Anyway, tonight we were watching "The Greatest Game Ever Played," and after that we read from Matthew some more, and finally from "Scoundrels."  It was a nice day, although a cold one.  Tomorrow we have to get up early for the church conference.  Madison is coming with me, and it should be a nice day.

My New Pet Raptor

So this happened.  I got a new raptor!  This was given to me specifically, a dinosaur of my own, and a gift from another church.  They were getting rid of a lot of their props and materials, and I just so happened to be there to exchange some costumes.  We borrowed their Buzz Lightyear costume and they borrowed the Mal and Uma costumes that Mom made.  Anyway, I was there for the exchange, and wouldn't you know it?  They were trying to get rid of this dinosaur.  And the young lady there actually gave this raptor to me!
 

Something like this costs thousands of dollars.  It's a puppet on the inside, something animated that gives the younger kids a scare.  Actually, it was frightening to the rest of the KidPak staff as it tromped into the office!

I asked Madison to give it a name, and she said, "Jerome."  So, meet Jerome the raptor.  He's rather big, and he's heavy too.  Without the proper padding, you can get some bruising just by wearing him.

Check out this video of Madison doing a improv routine with her kamas.  She did great!  This was for leadership class tonight.  Of course, we had the regular class too - it was a longer night.  Nana and I were there to watch Madison practice and spar.  She's doing great!

This morning's treadmill walk was a great one, a trip to Yellowstone, to Boiling River to be exact.  It's a nice little trail where there's a hot spring that goes into a river nearby.  It was a relaxing walk, and you could almost at one point smell the sulfur.  No joke, I was so into this that at one point I thought I smelled that characteristic smell you only get at Yellowstone.  I'm liking these Yellowstone walks a lot.

Mom and Nana did some grocery shopping today, but tonight we didn't really watch anything on television.  Everyone was tired from the day.

Madison has been studying, and a bit busy with homework.  I'm busy doing a lot of work for this weekend too, preparing for Saturday now.  We're having a conference upstairs, and some of us just found out at the last minute.  And now even more last-minute is the amount of kids we're watching over for the entire day. So we're in emergency planning mode as to what to do with a large quantity of kids for quite a bit of time. We'll get it right.

We read tonight from Matthew, and from "Scoundrels" too, of course.  I've had to keep checking this book out at the library, going to the website to renew it.  It's a longer book.  But we're into it!

We said our prayers, and not long after that, all of us were asleep.  Super tired tonight!

Rainy Day in January

We did have sun today, but it gave way to clouds, to cooler weather, and eventually a lot of wind and rain. In fact, the drive home from piano class tonight was rather unpleasant, the big winds and downpours attacking the car as we made our way home.  Madison's piano class was a bit shorter, as she went through her assigned music and needs to do some practicing.  That may be Friday, and then the weekend - tomorrow is a great deal of taekwondo, and of course studying.  She had some of that to do today as well, and also some homework.  The rest of us were watching "Saving Mr. Banks," which has such an emotional ending.  It makes you want to watch "Mary Poppins" right away.  I really enjoyed her books, really enjoying reading them to Madison one after the other at bedtime, back when we read her stories in her room.  It was a wonderful time in our lives.  

Madison was at school early today, getting donations for the coat drive again.  The number of coats has been great to see, a lot of coats being donated for needy families.  It's been good to see Madison and her friends heading that up too.

This morning's treadmill adventure was through SeaWorld, which made me want to go back there again.  We had season passes at one point, and even went there one time just to go trick-or-treating.  It was a lot of fun!

Mom and Nana did some grocery shopping today, getting Madison some more pizza and getting other items as well, stocking up.  Meanwhile, I was at the office and we discovered that we're doing a lot of work on Saturday downstairs, watching kids for the women's conference.  Completely left field, and suddenly we're working all day Saturday.  Madison said she might come along to help volunteer.  We're going to need all the help we can get, as this was put on us at the last minute.

She had small groups again tonight, and it's the start of a great new series the girls are doing on... famous ladies in the Bible.  Tonight the girls started with Deborah, which is fun because we just read about her.  There was a fun game beforehand, one that Madison won.  Afterwards, Lauren and Camille talked about Deborah as Madison took notes on her phone.  They do Bible drills too, looking up scriptures as quickly as they can, racing each other to the location so they can have the rights to read the scriptures.  It's a great group!

Mom made a delicious dinner tonight, a pasta with shrimp that was really good.  Alongside that were these breadsticks that weren't made from bread:  they were made from cauliflower!  And you really wouldn't have noticed unless someone told you.  They were really good!

I'm sitting here typing this, and the Frog Prince just started to sing under my pillow.  Madison snuck him there, of course, part of the ongoing Frog Prince Skirmishes.  Groundhog is sitting next to me too.  His big day is coming up soon.  Tonight we'll read from Matthew and from "Scoundrels" as well, and then say our prayers - and then it's off to bed.

Sunny Day in January

Look at the Valentine's decorations Mom put out on our porch!  It's that season, and things look nice out there, especially with that sunrise behind the house.  After a pretty loud night, the sun came out big time today and gave us a splendid afternoon that was so warm and dry and just everything you want in a day in the midst of January.  Unless of course you're wishing for snow, and that seems highly unlikely at present.  It's supposed to be cold upcoming, but that's okay because it's January. And today was just fine too.  We were outside working this afternoon, along with the lizards that were there nearby sunning themselves.

 Here's the other thing we were doing - a giant version of "Don't Break the Ice."  That'll show up on KPTV in a couple Sundays, but it was fun watching the players pound out the white boxes of ice there, trying not to bring down the doll on top of things.  It got really tense, and in many ways was just like "Yeti Spaghetti."

I dropped Madison off at school this morning, early again just like the whole week here.  She's getting there early to join her other friends in Live to Give so they can receive donations for the coat drive.  As you may recall, they're taking donations - jackets - to give to needy families during the winter season.  As of this writing, they've gotten as many as forty jackets.  To think, this idea started with Madison, another member and the teacher.  And now they've seen it come to pass, and it's pretty rewarding.  They're doing a great job!

This morning's walk was around the volcano craters on the Big Island of Hawaii.  At work, I was proofing and writing today, but came home a little earlier because Nana was having another bad day.  Yesterday wasn't great either in that department.  It's very taxing.  Tonight she and I took Madison to taekwondo, and that was nice, watching the kids practice and spar.  They were using nunchucks too, which never gets old.  We stopped at a gas station on the way home and get candy bars.  It turns out that this was largely the only thing Nana ate today, as she's been declining everything offered.

Speaking of declining, Madison's grades have been heading in that direction too - slightly.   Of course, these are just the first grades of the semester.  Maybe we can come up with some incentive to get these grades to climb a little higher up, Maddie?  We'll work on some ideas.  Maybe a trip to Galaxy's Edge this summer?  How about that?

Okay, anyway, tonight while she was studying for math and listening to music and watching videos, we sat down with Nana to watch "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid."  Madison said that even if she didn't have to study, there's be no way she'd want to watch that.  So okay then!  

The three of us enjoyed the movie, and of course it is dated.  But boy, I remember going to see this in theaters, and I remember for some reason that the whole group of us went to eat something at Checkers afterwards.  Funny the things you remember.  

Tonight we read from Matthew again, and we continued with our reading of "Scoundrels," learning about the safe that our heroes have to figure out.  It's going to be a difficult heist for sure!  We prayed, and we were asleep not long after that.  I was reading for a bit, but it was late tonight, and we were all asleep fairly quickly.

Jellied Brains

It was an amazing night for fog, perhaps the thickest I've seen in many, many years.  It started early in the afternoon, and you could see it coming in, compiling and getting worse and worse going on.  The news station called out the Gainesville area this evening, talking about how it was zero visibility here, and that's about right.  We were on our way home from the leadership class, driving into the murky clouds and just wanting to be home as soon as possible.  We heard sirens outside tonight a few times, and were grateful to be inside.  It was as thick as... 

Well, yeah, jellied brains, I suppose.  Cyclops would say something like that about tonight.  But Yukon Cornelius would tell us it's as thick as peanut butter.  Regardless, it was remarkable.

Today was a decent day at school, where Madison was thrilled to study geometric sequencing.  Okay, not really.  Her fellow student in the accelerated class is doing the same thing, so they're right now at about the same level.  Meanwhile, Mom and Nana were over at Goodwill just hanging out.  We picked up some books there - a nice collection of RL Stine books that I've never ever read before.  Of course, I'll probably wait until October or September to read about Slappy.  Currently, I've picked up another Terry Pratchett book, "Interesting Times," that I just started today having finished "Moving Pictures" a day or two ago.  And at night, we read "Scoundrels" together - tonight's reading featured the daring rescue of Zerba and Lando Calrissian.  And wow, we do read a lot - today we were reading from the Bible, reading from the book of Matthew.

Anyway, back at the thrift store, I picked up some baseball cards, and they were about a dollar a pack, so there was some risk involved.  But lo!  I got four Randy Johnson cards, a few Barry Larkins, some Terry Pendletons, a Mickey Morandini rookie card, and more.  This prompted Nana and I to have a seat at home and go through all the baseball cards I have in my collection.  I have a whole lot, many from the seventies, including Nolan Ryan, as well as Reggie Jackson and all the Yankees from that era.  Good stuff.  Of course, I have the 90's Braves teams as well, and those were fun looking through.  We reminisced about that time I was hit by a baseball in the bottom of the ninth inning of a game versus the Expos.  I still have the ticket for that game.  Mom was on my left and a friend's wife was in the other seat.  I was in the tenth row, and wasn't paying attention at that point.  That ball got me in the jaw, and there was a team of ushers quickly escorting me to a golf cart, and then up to the top where they took a picture of me and had me sign papers while I was still stunned.  You'd think I'd get the ball or something, but nope.  I got nothing.  So my sister made me a "CERTIFICATE OF BEAMING," which I still have to this day with the rest of the baseball collection.

Madison was at taekwondo leadership as I said, working on tornado kicks, which just sound cool to say.  It's a work in progress, and she's doing great.  Her form and flexibility are great.  

My exercise today was a trip to Trout Lake in Yellowstone - on the treadmill, of course.  I walked around the lake on the treadmill, saw some otters, and just enjoyed a nice, peaceful walk.  I've been keeping it going, a brisk, half-hour walk each day on this thing.

Tonight we watched "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" together, and it was just as fun as I remember last time.  I love this movie.  We were going to see it because we saw that episode of "Prop Culture," the one that went back and found that original shrink ray.

Madison was studying ELA tonight, so we watched the first episode of "Brain Games" and that was about it for the day, really.  We prayed together tonight, and were off to bed, reading, hiding groundhogs and Frog Princes, and praying.  

Until around 2am or so when those super loud storms came around.  That kept everyone up in the region, some of the loudest storms we've had in months.  

Return of the Yeti

This morning, the Yeti returned to KidPak, an old friend we pull out every time we do this Elevate series.  We've done it about four times so far, so he's been out there a few times over the last fifteen years.  I remember Mom making the mask for this yeti because the original yeti mask was too scary for the little ones.  It was this rubber thing that didn't look real anyway.  Not saying this new one looks any more real, but sometimes these rubber faces are all warped and weird looking.  So Mom made what you see above - we had a plastic monkey mask, and we painted it white.  Mom glued fur on it, and then made an extra head piece, and voila!  We have a new yeti head.

We had a smaller cast today, but nevertheless, it was a very good service all throughout, one with the bottom line inspired by climbing in the 80's:  "Go Climb a Rock."  It was a great morning.

Getting home, there was magnificent spaghetti for dinner, and a whole lot of binge-watching of a show we've been enjoying called "Prop Culture."  It's been great revisiting some of these old movies, and catching up with the people who helped make them.  Especially rewarding has been watching those individuals meet up again with props and costumes that bring back such strong memories.

Tonight we read from Matthew again, and read from a strong, strong chapter of prophecy, Isaiah 53.  After that, we read from "Scoundrels," and we're setting up hopefully a successful rescue of Lando Calrissian and a sleight of hand expert named Zerba.  They're in a real pickle, looking at an approaching Falleen, and that won't end well unless the rescue team comes in to save them. 

We prayed tonight, and were off to sleep after that.  We did a few things this afternoon - Madison did some piano, and then math homework.  She, Mom, and Nana all got baths, and I got one of the Christmas trees downstairs.  I also did my walk on the treadmill, today walking for about a half hour over the grounds of the Wilderness Lodge, as well as inside the lodge itself, and even the gift shop there.  It's my favorite resort of all the ones there at Disney, especially that little nook up there on the fourth floor of the lobby by the fireplace up there.  It's a perfectly relaxing place!  I wish I was there now...!

It was a good day, a quiet one after church.  But it was restful, and it was a nice one.

Elachee Nature Center

Today was our first trip together to the Elachee Nature Center, which is something we pass by three times a week and have lived nearby for quite a long time - but never visited.  We were walking along the trail for a while there, and I snapped this picture above at one overlook.

Madison snapped a few pictures too, using her cell phone to do some close-ups of the greenery, or perhaps some rocks or even an animal or two.

This is I believe part of a tree trunk.  I didn't get to see her take this one - she was walking along outside with us, taking pictures here and there.  It was a pretty day outside, at least compared to the previous ones so far this month.  We literally pass by the entrance to this place every time we go to taekwondo, and I had no idea how long the entrance road really was.  First we paid the five dollars to park, and then follow a driveway to this place about one mile long.  It goes through the middle of a golf course, and then actually over the interstate, and then to the nature center. 

There weren't too many people there.  We saw this bee exhibit in there, and of course all started thinking of WandaVision.  But we were a little early for animal show that drew us there in the first place, so having gotten there a little over an hour early, we decided to use the time to look around and explore.

We were outside a good while, walking along the path that was set up on a nice day.  The following pictures were taken along that outdoor walkway.  This was my walk for the day, a little more leisurely, but still a walk nonetheless, and one that took about a half-hour or so.

Squirrel!  On the first floor, or the basement of the building, there was an animal exhibit, and I was expecting something a bit more than reptiles, but that was it, and so we walked by one glass enclosure after another, peering in and looking for snakes, a few turtles, some frogs, skinks, and one tarantula.

You can see the artwork on the wall here.  We passed by some larger murals painted by different students and grade levels, some of which you can see here below.

Anyway, we timed it right and got back upstairs to a presentation room, and that's when we got to see some more animals, and a lecture about them.

More reptiles!  Other than a barn owl, that's all they have there.  If it weren't for the nice trail, you might as well call the place "Elachee Reptile Center."  Yes, I know that frogs are amphibians.  The point is, that's all we saw today.  Now, all that said, the presentation was interesting.  Madison took this picture above of the king snake, something we all got to touch.  And this lizard here from the Sahara was interesting.

And there was a turtle too.  The turtle in question wasn't able to be released out into the wild due to his smaller shell.  This place in some ways reminded me of the Marine Science Center down in Daytona.  

Speaking of turtles, Madison got a turtle souvenir in the shop, a stone necklace that she wore the rest of the day.

We left after the presentation, and everyone enjoyed themselves.  It was a pleasant diversion, and soon enough we were home enjoying dinner too.  Tonight's feature was the live action "101 Dalmatians," and after that we read from Matthew, and then from "Scoundrels."  Speaking of reading, today I finished "Moving Pictures," which was such a fun book to read.  I'll have to choose another Terry Pratchett book to pick up next, which shouldn't be a problem, as Mom got me several for Christmas.  My visit to the Discworld is a more extended one this year!

We said our prayers tonight, and then it was time to get some shuteye.  We're getting up earlier for church tomorrow, and it's going to be a great day.

Professor Wisenheimer

I've been animated!  Of course, I've been Cowboy for the "Tribes" series, but this is the first time my Professor Wisenheimer character has ever been animated.  I've been doing the voice for him this week, and Josh of course animated the first part of an ongoing series of cartoons that starts this weekend upcoming.  It's sort of based on the look and feel of those old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons, which of course are very pun heavy.  

Madison didn't have the test she thought she was going to have in ELA today, but she'll have that on Tuesday.  That's a disappointment, as she was wanting to get it over with!  She's not doing bad in school, not a bad start to things this semester.  I dropped her off this morning as always, about an hour before school starts.  She likes getting there early to talk with friends and have some downtime there before the classes start.

Mom and Nana were painting today, fixing up the kitchen there.  They also replaced one of our broken light switch panels.  Got a lot of good things done today!

I was with Nana and Ye-Ye tonight for a bit, just doing a lot of catching up, and when we got home, of course we watched the latest episode of "WandaVision," which led to more questions, but it's been fun to watch.  Some parts are pretty creepy, which is such an odd contrast to the comedy of other moments.

I've been writing at work, doing a new devotional for "Storm Chasers," as well as getting things finalized for the Star Wars booklet that will be made for March.  Also, a bit of cleaning up of the office.  This morning, I walked along the Madison River in Yellowstone for a half-hour, getting some of that in.

We prayed tonight, and we read from Matthew 6, a pretty epic chapter in the Bible, actually.  We read from "Scoundrels" after that, reading a chapter where Lando is playing front man in a tight spot.  It's been a great read though, one we'll be in for another few weeks, I think.

We said our prayers tonight, and were asleep not long after that.  It's late, but the good news is we can sleep in tomorrow!

Instructing Taekwondo

Madison was teaching leadership tonight, or at least assisting with that.  She was instructing some of the other students in the class, going from student to student to observe and see which ones needed correction, or which ones needed affirmation that they were doing a good job.  She's a good encourager, and a patient teacher too, a very useful skill.

She had a good day at school today, this time ready for another pop quiz thrown at her in Georgia studies.  She got a perfect score on it.  It helped that a previous class warned her of the upcoming quiz.  This brought back funny memories of a ll those times we students warned other classes or got warnings ourselves.  It's like the cars that pass by you and blink their headlights to tell you there's a speed trap ahead.  Anyway, she was ready regardless, getting six our of six.  

I was writing scripts today, including the one for Sunday upcoming at KidPak.  Some last minute changes in the cast prompted some emergency changes, and truthfully, things are much better than they were before anyway.  It all worked out!

Mom finally found some nice wall hangings for outside for Valentine's Day.  We had been looking in several different craft stores lately, from Hobby Lobby to Joanne's, and wonder of wonders:  Mom found what we were looking for at the Dollar General!  We've got the heart on the front door, a garden flag, and of course each night there's the Frog Prince ambushing either Madison or myself, found shaking and singing under one pillow or another.

Mom had another epic dinner tonight, a shrimp dinner that was just perfect.  We ate dinner today, and then were off for taekwondo doing that extensive class.  It's two classes back-to-back, first regular classes and then leadership class.  She's good and tired when we get out.  She had to do some homework and some studying when she got home, although it turned out that the test she thought she was going to have on Friday got pushed forward to Tuesday.  Still, she was busy studying while we were watching a couple episodes of this show called "Prop Culture," which is pretty good.  The host of the show was tracking down props from "Mary Poppins," and reuniting certain ones with actors and those behind the creation of the movie.

Each day I'm walking a half-hour on that treadmill now, and each day it's been a different route.  It's made the treadmill walk interesting.  Today I did the 5K at Castaway Cay, along with a bunch of others.  It's a completely uninteresting path, just something along the center of the small island with no view whatsoever - you'd think there'd be a path along the shoreline or something.  Still, there were plenty of people doing the run, and it was was fun to see the people involved, moving along and moving forward.

It was a good day today.  We're still reading from "Scoundrels" each night.  And we're reading from the book of Matthew too, right at the Sermon on the Mount.  The committed were the ones that heard the message, those who climbed with Jesus.  It's all foundational stuff, great material to read together before bedtime.  We said our prayers, and shortly after that, we were all in bed...  including that Frog Prince under my pillow!

Mauve Sheep

It's hard to believe it's been twelve years since the last Year of the Rat - the thought occurred to me this morning when I woke up and saw the t-shirt I found in the drawer, one that I got at an event put together for families with children from China.  Madison was so tiny back then.  She wore her small red Chinese outfit and watched the dragon dance, walking around that place in Cobb County.  I can't remember the exact name of the location, but once a year, families would fill it up with vendors selling trips to China, books, clothing, Chinese food, kites, souvenirs and bubble tea.  Dancers young and old would be performing on stage, as would martial artists as well.  The dragon dance was always the last part, and there was even bubble wrap on the ground for the younger kids to stomp on to make loud noises.  For a few years straight, we attended this event without Madison, before we met her.  We were still in the midst of the process, either the paper chase of the actual waiting game, and of course the cancer too.  We'd sit there amongst families who had their children already, and many would recognize us and wonder why we didn't have our child yet.  The reason, of course, was the increased waiting time.  We started the paper chase in 2005, submitting our documents and getting our log in dates by January of 2006.  That, of course, is simultaneous to Mom's cancer diagnosis.  Unrelated to that, the wait increased for all prospective adoptive parents, and we wound up waiting two-and-a-half years.  During that time, of course, Mom was enduring the cancer treatments, and winning that fight.  And she wouldn't have been able to go to China if the time they said to come was any earlier.  But it all worked out, and we made it there after waiting that long.  But each January or February, we'd go to this event for families with children from China, and each time we'd sit there with such hope and say, "Some day we'll be here with a child of our own."  The Year of the Rat was the first one we made it to with Madison, and the following one too.  Soon after that, things changed quite a bit.  The number of children adopted plummeted, and so the large scale event got downsized considerably.  God was gracious enough to get us to about two of these events with Madison before they were no more, and we saw the tail end of them.  Each year subsequent, we've tried to come up with alternate ideas, home parties and so on.  I was shopping online today for an item or two, but not having much luck about it.  We've got time - Chinese New Year is a little under a month away.  Even before Madison came we'd use this time to play music from our collection from the Chinese pavilion in EPCOT to all of these events we'd go to mentioned above.  We had a decent amount of Chinese music, and it worked out that when we put up the Christmas music, we then brought out the Chinese music.  We'll be listening to more of that in the coming weeks, as it is relaxing and we actually enjoy it.

Tonight we read some more from the book "Scoundrels," that Star Wars book about a heist, where the characters are working together to steal something big.  Will they pull it off?  It's been a fun read each night, but we're just now realizing that this book is a pretty long one!  We read from the book of Matthew too, for our Bible study, reading about the time Jesus was tempted in the wilderness.  Most amusing to Madison and myself was the Message translation when Jesus was done being tempted:  "“Beat it, Satan!”

We watched "Twister" tonight, and then actually an old History Channel program about technology used to track tornadoes and measure windspeed.  This is all part of the research process for the upcoming series we're returning to, "Storm Chasers."  I need to write a devotional for that one, so watching all this material is helpful.  For example, tonight we learned about the Fujita scale, and how it's actually measuring damage done.  It's like a unit of measurement for damage. 

Madison had her small groups tonight, and I made up the game for them yesterday and sent it to Camille.  Madison hadn't seen the game before, but she did in fact win it tonight by one point.  It involved counting sheep, or at least doing your best to remember how many were wearing shoes, sunglasses, hats, or how many were white, black, or mauve.  Yes, I made mauve sheep.  

Madison had school today, and after school she was at her Live to Give club, where the club membership just doubled!  Of course, there weren't many in the club to begin with, but still!  I picked her up afterwards, and we drove home talking about her day, about a game she loves to play called Four Square, and a few other events of the day.  We got home to a nice dinner tonight, an absolute gem of a meal.  Mom has been preparing some of the best meals lately, tonight's being a fish dinner with cauliflower and cheese, and twice-baked potatoes with all the toppings nearby.  

This morning's walk was through Sequoia, which I miss terribly.  I miss it all terribly.  But at least I can visit virtually with the treadmill, walking through trails and pathways, or even on roads.  Tomorrow I'm going to join the rest of the runners on the marathon through Castaway Cay.  

No piano tonight.  But the Frog Prince was under my pillow, and Madison absolutely got me good with that one.  I put my head down on the pillow, and sure enough, that shaking and singing frog was there beneath the pillow, completely cracking all of us up.  I'll have to get her back now!

The Battle of The Frog Prince

We filmed some more KidPak games today, and these were pretty messy!  But it's a lot of fun, and these online services are getting a good amount of views, so that's nice.  Madison gets home from church each Sunday and right away she's watching these online too.  She hooks up the headphones and sits there, laughing at the chaos and fun.  There are messages there too, of course.  She's been enjoying it all - and it's just great to have so many different services.  Plus reading each night - we were reading Matthew tonight again, and it was about John the Baptist, who pulled no punches.  He must have been an amazing speaker, so much anointing.  The camel hair thing is a little odd, but I'm not going to judge.  I don't think I could eat locusts.  Honey, sure.  Locusts?  Uh... no.

Part of the game today involved one contestant moving about with these upside down goggles, these goggles that made everything look upside down.  I brought them home for Madison to try, and she immediately said, "NOPE!"  Meaning, she wasn't going to keep those on much longer.  They come with some sort of game, so we'll have to maybe try that soon.

She brought home her latest art project from school, a picture of a red panda that she's been working on.  She used a grid to map out each portion of the animal - she says it is her favorite mammal.  The picture is looking great so far, and we'll share it here soon when it is done.

Of course, we had taekwondo tonight, which is a regular thing - although last night everyone had off for the holiday.  But we had that tonight, and it was great to see Madison sparring again.  She loves doing that, and it was funny to watch her up against a rather energetic partner that had a little less experience.  He came charging forward, thinking that would work again and again, only to be repelled by a foot-fist fiesta. Madison has a great kick, so high, and so quick.

We got home, and tonight we read from the Matthew as I said earlier, and we read from "Scoundrels" too, which is just getting going, but a pretty good book.  There are so many characters working together that there was potential to lose track of each one, but thus far we've got things figured out.

Tonight, Mom and I watched "The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin," which didn't exactly cover the "bullwhip" part, but was nevertheless a pretty fun movie!  There's a therapeutic sort of thing with these old Disney movies.  Sure they're corny and predictable, but there's a lot of fun in them, and the two of us enjoyed this one upstairs in bed with the laptop resting on a pillow there.  It was just old-school fun.

At bed time, the Battle of the Frog Prince continued, and I'll have to get a video of that song posted here, because it was heard loud again tonight as Madison put her head back on the pillow.  She was surprised to hear it again!  As I was getting the garbage cans out on the driveway after bed, she snuck the Frog Prince to a place under my pillow, and sure enough, when I put my head down on it... there he was shaking and singing again!  And down the hall... you could hear Madison laughing...

Groundhog Chiropractor

Groundhog Day is coming up soon, and as you can see, Chuck, our pet groundhog is getting ready to have an adjustment leading up the big day.  Madison brought him along with us today, and in a pretty funny moment prior to this, she had him peeking out the door of our room where we were waiting, looking around.  Dr. Williams caught sight of him, along with the nurses, and their reaction was pretty funny.  What was even better was that Dr. Williams actually gave him an adjustment, with Madison there to film the whole thing.

Today was a day off of school for Madison, and we went... nowhere.  She was on the couch all day, playing games like Animal Crossing and Mario Odyssey.  It was a cold day today.  Mom was outside collecting kindling for the fireplace.  We did read from the book of Matthew tonight, and we also read from "Scoundrels" too. 

 

But we didn't really do much today.  While we were over at the chiropractor, we stopped to look for a few items at a few stores - looking for decorations for Valentine's Day.  We were trying to find a wall hanging for outside, but came up short on that.  Also, we ate at Cracker Barrel, and it was good, although we were a little on the chilly side of things.  We were seated the farthest possible seats possible from that nice roaring fireplace they have there, but the food was good, and Nana and Mom enjoyed their shopping afterwards.  

We went home, and the girls all got baths and showers, and afterwards, Maddie, Mom and I sat in bed watching WandaVision again, the first two episodes at least.  

Stop it.  Stop it.  STOP IT.  This moment here in the first episode is so creepy!  Madison is catching little clues left along the way here, and it goes without saying that we're all hooked.  

We said our prayers tonight, and were off to bed.  Chuck has been in our bedroom lately, left in random places to surprise me.  He's our pal though, one of those friends that's been around for so long.  It's funny that Madison has been bringing him along to places like the chiropractor.  He's been in a lot of KidPak videos, and on stage going back to the days before we even had our main campus here.  We love that guy, but I think he has other fans too!