It's Groundhog Day, Again.

We were all up early this morning to watch the live feed from Punxsutawney, watching the concert and fireworks, and then of course the party songs - the traditional playing of the song "You Make Me Want to Shout."  Then the arrival of the Inner Circle, all with their meteorological nicknames.  And then the ceremony itself, knocking on the door, struggling to get Phil out of his home and lifting him up like Mufasa for all the record-breaking crowd to see.  The stick enables one of the Inner Circle to speak and understand Groundhogeese, and sure enough, that guy was directed to choose the scroll that told everyone to expect six more weeks of winter.  Another Polar Vortex is supposedly on the way (after a week of unusually warm weather!), so Phil must be in sync with the meteorologists.  As for General Beau down here in Georgia, he also saw his shadow - we watched that as well, although the footage was pretty poor.  But there was a decent crowd down there (nothing like up in Punxsutawney though!), so it was great to see a lot of folks happy to celebrate the day.  

Happy to get to see the ceremonies and festivities, we then made our way off to church, where the groundhog theme continued at KidPak.

     Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cooooold out there today!  Is anyone ready for spring?  For behold, a new thing is on the way!  That’s right, God is always there with you, ready to take you into the next season.  Now don’t you worry, because there’s no shadow of turning with Him.  You’re better together with the Lord.  In fact, your future looks so bright, you’ll have to wear shades!         
     Some time ago, there was a guy named Abram who discovered this for himself.  You see, he too was heading into a new season!  His whole life was about to change. Even his very name would change from Abram to Abraham.  That’s right, one day God called on him to step out in faith, and Abraham had a choice to make:  stay where he was, or step out in faith and follow God?  He and his wife Sarah knew the answer to that one:  they were better together with the Lord.
     And that’s where their real adventures started!  Your adventure is waiting too, of course.  God wants to be your friend, and just like with Abraham and Sarah, He’s got great plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  He’s got plenty of promises for you, as numerous as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the shoreline.  He’s a friend that sticks closer than a brother, with a love for you that impossible to measure.

     Are you ready to step out in faith?  It’s easy to do.  Like Abraham and Sarah, just put one foot in front of the other, and start that walk of faith.  Trust the Lord with all your heart.  Talk with Him in prayer, and read His Word.  Draw close to God, and He’ll draw closer to you, because God really wants to be your friend!

KidPak Adventures
Groundhog Day

PROPS:
1.  Clipboards

2.  Lab Jackets

3.  Groundhog puppet

4.  Walkie-Talkie

5.  Walking Stick

CUE TRACK:  1 Phil Steals the Money 

DAWN, BRIELLE and MEGAN stand at STAGE LEFT, talking, pointing at clipboards they are holding and discussing statistics on these clipboards.

CUE SLIDE:  GROUNDHOG AGENCY 

CAMILLE, NIA, VICTORIA and JEREMIAH enter STAGE RIGHT.

CAMILLE:  “Come on guys.  I want to show you something.”

NIA:  “What is this place?”

CAMILLE:  “Remember how you were talking about being in this season where things just seemed dark and hopeless?”

NIA:  “Yeah?”

CAMILLE:  “Well get ready for a big change.”

VICTORIA:  “It looks like a science lab here.” 

JEREMIAH:  “Or the insides of a video game.”

CAMILLE:  “We’re moving to a new season, and I wanted to prove it to you.”

JEREMIAH:  “Here?”

CUE SLIDE:  “GROUNDHOG AGENCY (acronym on screen)”

EMMA and WYATT enter CENTER STAGE.  WYATT is holding a stick.

EMMA:  “Yes, here.  Hello friends, and welcome to the (reading from screen) Geoclimate Research Observation Understanding Nature and Development of Habitat Occurrences with Groundhog Studies.”

VICTORIA:  “Wow!  Do you know what this means?”

JEREMIAH: “Someone really wanted to spell groundhogs?”

CUE SLIDE:  “GROUNDHOG AGENCY with letters highlighted”

EMMA:  (seeing the words on the screen) “Whoa.  You’re right.  All that does spell ‘groundhogs!’  Wow.  Ya know, I never noticed that before!”

WYATT laughs really loud here, a little too long as CAST looks on, somewhat stunned.

 

WYATT quickly recovers and returns to his professional demeanor.

NIA:  “Seriously?  What is this place?”

CUE SLIDE:  GROUNDHOG AGENCY

CAMILLE:  “Don’t worry, Nia.  This is going to be a valuable day for you.  You might even learn some things here.”

 

EMMA:  “That’s right.  Do you want to see your parents hard tax dollars at work?  Well, no worries.”

MEGAN:  (approaching)  “Just a few years ago, the government invested twenty-two point two billion dollars in creating this federal agency designed to study the effects of groundhogs and the weather.”

JEREMIAH: “But there is no connection between the groundhog and the weather.”

CUT TRACK 

CAST gasps loudly.

BRIELLE:  “Who on earth said that?”

CAST points at JEREMIAH, who looks super confused.

CAST:  (almost a chant) “Non-believer!”

DAWN:  (mocking) “Apparently we have a nonbeliever!” 

JEREMIAH:  “Nonbeliever?  Are you trying to tell me that – ”

CUE TRACK:  1 Phil Steals the Money

MEGAN:  (interrupting, gesturing at clipboard)  “Never argue with the data!  Each February 2^nd, we track the groundhog predictions for a new and brighter season.”

 

VICTORIA:  “And what are the results?”

DAWN:  “We don’t know yet.  But we do know this:  groundhogs are pretty cute little guys!  (talking into a walkie-talkie)  Bring out Chuck.”

VICTORIA:  “What’s going on?  How is this supposed to help me?”

CAMILLE:  “You’ll see.”

DANIEL enters CENTER STAGE.  DANIEL has a groundhog puppet named CHUCK.

MEGAN:  “Meet Chuck.”

 

NIA:  “That’s a groundhog.”

EMMA:  “Yes, and here at the Center we’re focused on the groundhog’s message to all of us.”

VICTORIA:  “Okay?  So how do you actually hear the groundhog’s message?”

BRIELLE:  “By holding a stick.”

WYATT presents the stick to audience theatrically.

JEREMIAH:  “You’re kidding.”

 

MEGAN:  “Nope.  Anyone holding that stick can hear his message of hope and joy for a new season.  It allows you to speak groundhog-eese.”

DANIEL gestures to MEGAN, EMMA, and DAWN.

DAWN:  (pointing) “Hold on, I think Chuck wants to say something to everyone!”

WYATT hands stick to EMMA.

EMMA, holding stick, leans over to listen to CHUCK the GROUNDHOG.

EMMA:  “Yes!  We have great news!  (to audience) KidPak, do you want to hear it?”

 

Let audience replay

 

EMMA has a whispering conversation with CHUCK the GROUNDHOG.

EMMA:  “He says no shadow!”

DAWN:  “Spring is on the way!”

CAST rejoices!

 

JEREMIAH:  “This is ridiculous.  Just because you’re holding a stick doesn’t mean you can hear a useless groundhog!”

 

BRIELLE:  “Wait.  What did you call him?”

JEREMIAH:  “A useless groundhog!”

BRIELLE:  (challenging) “Say it to his face.”

JEREMIAH:  “Okay.  (leaning down, talking to groundhog)  He’s a useless groundhog!”

GROUNDHOG lunges up at JEREMIAH and attaches to his face.  JEREMIAH holds puppet to his face, screaming and running around STAGE for a few laps, as others give chase and try to help.

 

JEREMIAH:  “Get it off!  Get it off!  Get it off!”

 

JEREMIAH runs off STAGE RIGHT.  DANIEL quickly follows.

 

NIA:  “What is going on here?”

VICTORIA:  “What is this all about, Camille?”

CUE TRACK:  2 A New Day 

CAMILLE:  “Girls, there are two different types of voices in your life.  One voice says it will stay winter in your life.  Yeah, some will tell you that you’re never going anywhere.”

EMMA:  “Then there are others like Chuck, who tell you a new season is on the way.”

MEGAN:  “That’s right.  Things are about to get a lot brighter for you.”

DAWN:  “Remember Abraham?  He stepped out in faith, and trusted God.  When you trust in the Lord, you’ll see discover that you and He are …better together!”

ENTIRE CAST looks at AUDIENCE, SMILES and WINKS, and then GIVES A CHEESY THUMBS UP

CUE SOUND EFFECT:  STREET FIGHTER SHORT TRACK

NIA:  “You know something?  I think you’re right.”

VICTORIA:  “Spring is on the way!”

CAMILLE:  “That’s right.  Now if we could just get Jeremiah to believe…”

JEREMIAH:  (entering, frantic, looking back) “I believe, I believe!”

DANIEL walks in with CHUCK the GROUNDHOG

 

MEGAN:  “Good, Jeremiah.  I think you learned your lesson.”

CUE TRACK:  3 Clouds

EMMA:  “Hold this stick, because there’s one more thing Chuck wants to say.”

 

EMMA hands stick to JEREMIAH, who then leans in towards CHUCK.

 

JEREMIAH:  (excited) “You’re right!  He’s talking to me!”

 

VICTORIA and NIA:  “What’s he saying?”

JEREMIAH: “Let’s go celebrate Groundhog Day with some doughnuts!”

 

CAST cheers 

CAST:  (to audience) “Happy Groundhog Day!”

CAST waves, and walks off together as lights fade.

It's Groundhog Day!  We had a fun morning at KidPak, really solid services with a fun skit, great object lessons, the full band, new booklets, small groups and all kinds of great stuff.  Maddie took these pictures above and more, and of course we have them on the church site.  But you can see Chuck the groundhog saying "hi" to folks between services.  That was fun!

It was a nice morning and a good day today.  We had a rotisserie chicken and a great meal at lunchtime, including some sweet potato casserole that Mom made today.  It was a good meal!  Later on, of course we watched "Groundhog Day" together before bedtime.  It's a movie that never gets old!

We also checked out that new Spider-man animated series, which was pretty cool.  We're moving things around and cleaning up a good bit today, but for the most part, there was a lot of rest this afternoon too.

We read tonight, and we said our prayers afterwards.  It was a good day.

Valentine's Day Train

Here it is, our Valentine's Day gingerbread creation this year.  Maddie and I set up shop on the kitchen table as we played the movie "Gnomeo and Juliet" on the television - a Valentine's Day tradition recently.  As we were watching, we added the heart shaped candy to the gingerbread train.  You can see we have the conversation hearts and a few other things too - it's a big messy train, but it's fun, and it probably tastes pretty good too!  Maddie was working n the back of the train while I was working on the engine.  It turned out pretty good!

Here's something else we watched:  Jack Frost!  Pardon-Me-Pete was on the big screen today, narrating the story, and I was thinking how great this animation was.  They had really come along way since the original "Rudolph" animations - the overall advancements were impressive.  Anyway, we enjoyed it.  Tomorrow's the big day!  We'll be up early, and hopefully we can catch Phil's prediction before we drive off to church.  But in the meantime, here's a snack that I made for everyone this afternoon:

Groundhog Day snacks!  I do these for co-workers and in tomorrow's case, volunteers.  We'll be celebrating Groundhog Day in style tomorrow!

This morning we had a return to Team Edge practice.  Maddie was working hard with the team.  And goofing off with the team too - it was pretty much like it always is.  But Maddie was glad to be back with the team - this was the first practice of the year. 

I was getting the "Slam Dunk" booklet worked on some more and doing some office work, creating graphics and handouts for tomorrow.  Mom made us this fantastic spaghetti meal today, and so I pulled out the "Lady and the Tramp" soundtrack on vinyl, and we had ourselves a nice Italian meal while listening to "Bella Notte."  

Working off the calories, I was on the treadmill while watching some more of a 8-hour series about teh book of Revelation.  It's been super interesting.  I keep on that treadmill as often as I can.

Tonight's movie (after "Jack Frost") was one we hadn't seen in a  long time.  I'm not sure I remember seeing it, actually!  Anyway, because we just saw a hockey game, we watched "Tooth Fairy," which features a hockey player that is forced to serve as a tooth fairy for a few weeks.  Fun movie!  Made me think back to all of Maddie's Tooth Fairy visits in the past.  There were some good ones!

Okay, moving on.  It's late, and we have to get up early to see the groundhog tomorrow.  Then church after that.  It'll be a good day, but today was a great one as well!

So Long and Thanks for the Fish

Today was the last day for the voices and personalities at the Fish, a local Atlanta radio station that's been around for twenty-five years.  It's been more of a ministry than a radio station, and that was the goal.  But the powers that be, however they were, chose to break a lot of hearts for whatever reason.  Many of us in the listening area are filled with grief by the decision - perhaps they weren't making enough money to continue to exist?  I don't know.  All I know is that the station was more than just music tracks.  It was personalities, a family, and a ministry to many.  And now it's wrapping up.  Today we were listening to this without stop all through the day, looking back as they remembered many events throughout the twenty-five years they've been on the air.  Lots of memories.  Lots of tears too.  We were a little teary eyed in the car as we listened.

We had a pretty decent creative meeting today, and this was a big one.  We spent a few hours talking about what to do for Easter.  This was Donna, Pastor Lance, Mom and myself, and can you believe the four of us came up with the idea for the narrators and story for the big Easter production in a few months? We still have to write it, but it all started here, today.  Just a hint, but it'll involve Peter, Paul and Mary.  And no, not the musical artists of the same name!  We'll see how things unfold, but I have to start writing next week. 

We were down in Braselton earlier today, moving props down there - and getting a few too.  We were also wrapping up the preparation for our Groundhog Day skit.  Should be fun.  We have so much going on right now with new books and a production and all the other things.  Tonight we had taekwondo too, and while that was going on, I was at church working again.  I'll have to be there tomorrow, I'm sure.  Just so much to do.

That was all shut down tonight though - we spent some time watching "The Wild Robot," which wasn't too bad.  it certainly had some laugh-out-loud moments in there.  It was basically Baymax and/or Wall-E on a deserted island with a lot of wildlife.  We enjoyed it.

We read some after that, and got to sleep pretty quickly.  Last day of January.  Time to get some rest.

Nute Gunray Valentine's Day Cards

Thursday!  So part of my research for the upcoming basketball series is immersing  myself into a theme that we're doing, a theme that I know not that much about.  I mean, I know the basics - I'm just more of a baseball and ice hockey guy.  That said, we saw "Space Jam" today, the original.  And I have to say, it wasn't that bad at all.  I've seen it before, decades ago, and didn't think as much about it.  So I was watching it with the bar a little low, and I actually genuinely enjoyed that movie!  We'll have a few references to the movie in the series, super subtle things, but I always like reading, playing and watching things related to the series before we dive in.  It should be fun!  The series is called "Slam Dunk," and we'll be enjoying this one.  Might even get some new KidPak jerseys!

Anyway, it was a day full of meetings on my end.  Maddie had a decent day at school too - she's busy with math and ELA of course.  That research paper she's doing is going to be on mental health in high school.  We'll see how that shapes up as the season goes along.  School is moving along.  Soon it'll be February, and then March, April... and then it's all over.  She is looking forward to the prom, of course.  Maddie and Mom were working on that dress today.  It came in, and Mom was making some adjustments to it.  Maddie is going to look gorgeous.  

Maddie did have taekwondo tonight, and that was pretty standard.  She was helping out first, and then working with Team Edge a bit.  Some of the students are sick, or have been sick recently.  This season has been challenging with all the illnesses going around.  Just this week Camille, Josh and Isaac were out sick.  the weather outside matches all this: cold, wet and gloomy.  But this is Georgia, so you know we'll be going from Polar Vortexes to near 80 degrees soon enough.  Yes, that's right, the forecast is for high seventies next week.  It'll seem so hot outside!

We closed out the day with prayers and reading of course.  Maddie and I have been enjoying this book, and then we'll be off to another book in the Discworld soon enough.  It's been a good day here, but we're busy.  And tired.  

Time to get some rest - but before heading to sleep, let me present an early treat for Valentine's Day.  Last year we were talking about Nute Gunray Valentine's Day Cards, something very obscure and admittedly dumb, but nevertheless, Josh made me a hilarious hand-drawn one last year.  That being said, I followed up with a set I'm making available to you.  That's right, below are the first ever Nute Gunray Valentine's Day cards that you can print out - both sides - and give to your loved ones this Valentine's Day.  Complete with quotes from your favorite obscure and weird Star Wars character, these Nute Gunray Valentine's Day cards will be a hit with friends and loved ones across the stars!

Bluebird Puzzle

Our latest puzzle is done, and this one was certainly an unusual one.  Mom loves bluebirds, so this was a nice Christmas gift for her.  We got to work on this one very recently, and as you can see, the border pieces were a lot more challenging than the usual border pieces on a puzzle.  Nevertheless, we found our way around and were able to finish it nicely.  It turned out well!

Maddie had a good day today, making some progress on her self-portrait.  She was showing that to us, and talking about the other interesting part of her week:  developing film.  The negatives are coming out well, so she seems to be doing great in the dark room.  I remember that dark room, going in there about four years ago before the school ever had a first day.  I'm so happy Maddie gets to spend time in there - it's a lot of fun.  I remember spending a lot of time in the dark room while I was in school, blasting grunge rock music while developing images.  Those were the days.

Maddie had FCY tonight, and that was good.  Her friends from taekwondo were there, so she had fun hanging around with them.  We had a good day - I got a new Groundhog Day skit done for Sunday, which is also our new series premiere.  It's an odd series, and a new book.  I'm not 100% satisfied with the look and writing of this one, but we had a super tight deadline and did the best we could.  I do know the skit should be pretty fun to do.  I love Chuck, our groundhog puppet!

We prayed tonight, and we read too.  It was a good day today!

Returning to Chang's

Tonight we celebrated the Lunar New Year with a visit to P.F. Chang's, a place we hadn't been to in quite some time.  Maddie was looking at the menu earlier today and even yesterday, pretty excited for the food this evening.  And it was good too!  There wasn't much of a crowd tonight, as it was a weekday night, and that was just fine with us.

Maddie got a spicy selection, including some firecracker sushi and shrimp, and of course a spicy chicken meal too.  Mom and I opted for some more sedate selections, although still pretty tasty.  We also got some hot tea, some lemon ginger tea that was just perfect.

Maddie brought the 35mm camera with her and was taking pictures tonight, and of course we'll have to wait until they develop to see what came out.  But she had a great time this evening, and it was nice going out to celebrate the new year together.

It was certainly on the pricy side - I think this was about three or even four times as much as eating at Wang's.  But it was a special occasion, and we enjoyed it very much, all the way down to the Chinese fortune cookies at the end.  It's been ages since we've been there, the last time a bit controversial because Mom had quite the bad reaction to some food.  We didn't know if it was gluten or what, and we specified that there be no gluten in the food.  So we just decided not to come back for a while, just to play it safe.  Well, it's been a long, long time.  And no bad reactions tonight, I'm glad to say.  But look at this early picture of Maddie at P.F. Chang's from about fifteen years ago.  Wow.  Fifteen years ago.  Wow.

It was a decent day today.  Maddie has been working on a self-portrait that is coming along really well, a project where she's gridding out sections of a photograph and individually recreating each square on the grid with a pencil.  The hair has been the challenge, as usual, but it's coming along well.  She's also been developing film too - the artistic parts of school have been enjoyable. 

At KidPak,we were at a local middle school hosting a special session after school today, and also filming some fun games for KPTV.  And writing.  Always writing.  Although the nature of AI suggests that writing won't be as necessary in the future, or at least our writing things.  I'm glad I'm from a generation that remembers when music, art and writing were 100% created from the human mind, versus this point on, where you'll always be suspicious of AI involvement.  

So it was a good day today.  We read tonight before bed, and we said our prayers of course.  The Plush Entourage got tucked in, and then it was time for bed!  Happy New Year!

National Chocolate Cake Day

It's National Chocolate Cake Day today, so when I was at the grocery store tonight, I was sure to pick up a gluten free chocolate cake to bring home to surprise Mom.  And yes, we had ourselves a nice little celebration tonight!  It was actually super rich and really delicious!

It was certainly something to brighten up a gloomy rainy day, not that we were in any kind of bad mood.  It's winter, and it's supposed to be cold.  It gives you something to look forward to in the spring, and also something to look forward to when getting home if you want to put another fire in the fireplace.  We did this tonight, and it was pretty nice.  We watched "Kronk's New Groove" this evening, and got to go back to Pancake Junction with Kronk for a bit.  Lot of nostalgia with this movie, and we still like it.

We're working on writing today for basketball - for "Slam Dunk," our new series.  Working on the first message, it's been fun working in a bit of a basketball angle for fun.  We're talking about Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness, and how they kept going out of bounds.  There are a lot of other metaphors I was picking up the other night while watching the teams play hoops at the high school.  I think this will be a fun series.  We're even getting new jerseys made!

Today we were getting a few Valentine's Day decorations up, and some Groundhog Day ones too even!  Mom has been great about setting up things around the house.  We continued with a bit of our housecleaning, as that is a colossal task. 

There was time for relaxing, and we touched on the bluebird puzzle too.  I kept on the treadmill, still walking through the book of Revelation with this one series I've been doing lately.  Got a couple badges for January on iFit, so that's cool too.

Maddie's been busy at school.  She's got an economics class that's no much to talk about.  And of course math, which isn't quite the party you want to go to.  But the photography class has been a lot of fun.  She processed her pictures of the posed toys from this weekend, and we'll have to share a few of those when we can.  They look great - we can scan those perhaps soon and share them here.

Tonight was taekwondo for her.  I was off grocery shopping, because the fast is over and we can get all kinds of things now.  Like Valentine's Day Fruit Loops!  Yes, that's a thing.  I picked up a box of those, not just for breakfast, but also perhaps using with an upcoming gingerbread house project.  We got this gingerbread train for Christmas, and wet kept it around for Valentine's Day.  I don't know why more people don't sell gingerbread houses for Valentine's Day.  Why not?

Anyway, it's been a good day.  Maddie saw possum on our back deck, and we actually spotted a squirrel on our back deck too.  The birds have been loving our selection, all kinds of visitors there enjoying the seeds and water.  Inside, we have two other pets - at least two.  We still have a few healthy sea monkeys flitting about inside this tank, and they appear to be having a great time, the tank nearly all to themselves.

It's been a good day.  We read tonight, and we said our prayers.  Tomorrow should be a good day.  We have leftover chocolate cake for our lunches!

Icy Build-ups

We were at church this morning, and these fountains were happy to remind us of just how cold it is outside.  Look at that ice build-up there, and of course you can see the surface of the water covered in ice as well.  It's been chilly, but it's slightly warmer and we're acclimated to it, so any slight uptick in temperature is actually a refreshing sort of day!

KidPak was great this morning - Maddie took these pictures below of our KidPak service, which marked the end of our church fast.  It was also the end of our current set, and the end of our current series dedicated to the Fruit of the Spirit.  

It went very well!  And additionally, Mom and I were upstairs in the main sanctuary for the end-of-the-fast service, sometimes called the "Miracle Prayer Service," where Pastor and staff prayed over literally every single person individually in that sanctuary in two separate services.  That was quite a line!

After service, it was time to eat.  I was obsessed with pancakes during this fast, longing to have a pancake.  That said, we went to Cracker Barrel, and it was very, very crowded there!  But I got my pancakes, and Mom and Maddie got their big lunches as well, and we had a nice meal there together.

We went home afterwards, and Mom and I took a little nap.  Maddie and I started to play some LEGO Marvel for a bit, and tonight's movie was "The Emperor's New Groove."  Tomorrow we'll see "Kronk's New Groove," because it features a reference to Pancake Junction, which is obviously a theme for the day!  We love Kronk in this house.

Later, we closed out the night with some light reading from "Witches Abroad," and then after that it was time for prayers and bedtime.  It was a nice day today - time for sleep though!

Honor to Us All

Okay, look at this!  Mom made some delicious fast-friendly spaghetti squash with tomato sauce and everything, all inside the natural bowl.  Yummy!

We finished the puzzle today, and brought honor to us all!  This one took a little longer, which makes sense as it was 250 pieces bigger.  But it turned out great, and I love the Kincaid treatment of all these Disney properties.  Just for fun, we listened to the vinyl album soundtrack to "Mulan" a few times today too.

Maddie had a bit of homework today that she was getting done, and meanwhile we were getting some cleanup done around the house.  We got the piano room looking nice, and we got the last Christmas tree down.  In our defense, this was the Presidential Christmas tree, with all those White House ornaments on it.  We keep that tree up until Inauguration Day.  But yeah, we've packed the ornaments up, vacuumed the floor of little fake pine needles, and got a good bit done there.

The piano room is looking pretty nice now, nice and cozy on this cold day outside.   It's a nice place to sit and relax.  I might even have to start learning to play that piano.  Maddie hit a few keys tonight for us, but after this picture we were soon off to play a board game.

Tonight we spent a good deal of time playing the game "Lanterns," which is one of our favorite games to sit and play this time of year.  It has a Far East theme to it, and easy-to-learn gameplay.  There is some great strategy and planning, and it's been a fun one to keep coming back to.  Ultimately I won tonight, although Mom came very close to second.  Poor Maddie languished in third place, but the point spread was close for all of us.  It's a really fun time though.

We spent more time with our "Chosen" devotional tonight, reading and sharing a good bit.  And then after that we watched an episode of "The Chosen" too.  It was time for bed after that - we read tonight before bed, and then said a quick prayer.  Everyone's all tucked in under the covers tonight because it seems a little colder out there.  The good news is that things should warm up tomorrow!

I Wanna See Scuba Claus

School was back in Dacula today, so I was down there for a good bit this morning helping out with our visit to Hebron Christian Academy.  Half our week was cancelled because of snow, but we made the best of things and had a great morning there.  Yes, there was still plenty of snow on the ground down there, and you can see from the shady driving areas that it was probably good to not have school the last few days there.  Meanwhile in Forsyth County, more north of there, we had no snow at all.  That was certainly an interesting snowstorm!

The wildfires are still ongoing in California, but Uncle George's house is safe, along with many others.  This has much to do with the valiant work of firefighters and skilled pilots with water drops.  The aerial assaults were really impressive.  Things seem to be calming down out there, at least in regards to the continuing fires.  The damage leftover - both physical and psychological - is tremendous in California.  As is the damage in North Carolina from the flooding due to Hurricane Helene.  It was a very difficult season for a lot of people.  

We did some work today for KidPak, of course, and it was early pick-up for Maddie.  I got her to taekwondo tonight, and while she was there I was working on a few different things for KidPak again.  We have a new basketball series in March, so there's some work to be done there with writing, and graphics too.  Camille's working on some new ideas for a logo - we're not quite there yet, but we're working quickly again.  

The puzzle is almost done - we'll share pictures when it's finished up.  This was a 750 piece puzzle, so it takes a little longer.  Perhaps I need to get a 1000 piece puzzle just to show I have patience.  But we're most comfortable with the 500 piece puzzles.  The big reason for doing the "Mulan" puzzle we're assembling is the Lunar New Year.  I've been somewhat addicted to this puzzle, sitting down each day to put pieces together.  The other thing I've been doing on the treadmill is listening to this 8-hour VHS series about Revelation.  It's so old you can't find any images of it online!  Perry Stone dives into the book, chapter by chapter (for the most part, as the letters to the other churches are skipped to focus on the prophesies in subsequent chapters).  This was back when his hair wasn't gray, but he still has a lot to say in a short time.  Marching along on the treadmill is a great way to catch up on these old videos, and this fasting season is great for getting some extra Bible study in there too.

Maddie is working on setting up some photoshoots - with action figures!  We'll share some of the final images when she's done with that, but it's been fun for her thinking up what to do there.  She'll take the photos this weekend, maybe with some LEGO figures or some Funko characters.  We'll see!  She's tackling math still, and of course ELA.  "Senioritis" is a real thing, but at the same time she's got some work to do in these classes, and she's been diligent to make sure she gets it done.  Meanwhile, her prom dress has been ordered, and she's super excited about that.  The weird news is that the school system actually scheduled the Senior Prom on Good Friday.  Yeah, that's not cool.  Obviously, that is super bad for the production schedule, but the Senior Prom is a big, big deal, and I'm going to make that work.  

Oh, here's some news:  Mom got season tickets to the Atlanta Aquarium this year.  For context, every year they have this deal early on where if you buy tickets for one day, the cost for a yearly pass is essentially the same.  So why not get the season pass?  So we did.  Mom called me up to let me know she did that, as we generally spend a big thinking about it each year.  We'll probably go pretty soon, earlier in the season, and then we just need to go one more time to justify the visit.  Although I might want to go more than that - the place is decorated for October with some fun spooky themes.  And of course I've always wanted to go in December - for many years now - to see Scuba Claus.  

SCUBA CLAUS

Swirls of fish dance 'round the reef, excited for a treat!

'cause diving in to join them is a man who can't be beat. 

With a big white beard, it's not too weird to see this man in red

Each December, in the water, with a Santa hat on his head

Oh look it's him!  I saw him swim!  

The fish are glad because

I know why, he's gliding by

It must be Scuba Claus!

The seals all bark, here comes a shark as happy as can be

Sea turtles dance, and penguins glance at this sight under the sea

Electric eels are all charged up.  Christmas lights are all aglow!

We all can't wait to see this festive diver putting on his show.

Oh look it's him!  I saw him swim!  

The fish are glad because

I know why, for gliding by

is Mister Scuba Claus!

The dolphins squeak! The penguins sneak to see their Christmas wish

For Scuba Claus is drifting through the happy schools of fish

I've gotta say this merry day, he's bringing lots of joy

He swimming by, and waving hi, to all good girls and boys!

Oh look it's him!  I saw him swim!  

The aquarium's glad because

I know why, for gliding by

is good ol' Scuba Claus!

Moving on!  Tonight we saw "Inside Out 2" again and enjoyed that before reading and prayers, and bedtime.  It's been a good day today.  We'll get some things done tomorrow around the house, and probably just spend it indoors.  For now... it's time for some sleep!

Mulan-athon 2

Tonight as we were working on this massive "Mulan" puzzle, we also wrapped up our "Mulan-athon" by watching "Mulan 2," which should hopefully also secure my record for mentioning "Mulan" the most in a single sentence, but just in case I'll say "Mulan," "Mulan," and "Mulan."  Anyway, it's been actually really fun revisiting these movies.  They take us back to a time when Maddie was super young.  The songs and music are really nice, evoking all sorts of happy memories of days gone by.  Maddie still enjoys these too. "Mulan 2" is one of Disney's better direct-to-video releases, part of a season where they kept making DVD sequels to many of their classic movies.  Some were notoriously not good, and expectations were never really terribly high.  So there were some surprises in there that weren't that bad at all, like "Mulan 2."  It has some fun songs in there, although the songs from the first movie are clearly more iconic.  The movie welcomes back its characters, and it's good to see them all again, although Mushu is a complete jerk for a good bit in the middle.  Anyway, we like this one for its focus on the Yao, Ling, and Chien Po, and of course the new characters they get to meet.  It's a fun movie, and a really pleasant evening.  Just so much nostalgia. 

Okay, moving on!  Maddie had some ELA homework tonight, and she wisely decided to skip taekwondo this evening to give herself some time to do that.  It's cold out there.  We're still stuck in this Polar Vortex for a few more days, and there's even allegedly another one coming next month too, perhaps.  We'll see when we get there, but until then, we're bundling up.  Inside the office at KidPak, the cold is so severe that we have space heaters and layered clothing, and even some blankets!

Snow is still on the ground south of here, and as a result we didn't go down to Dacula for our school event - there's still ice on the roads in the morning.  We closed up the night with our reading, and with prayers too of course.  And lots and lots of blankets! 

Cold Day

We had some tense moments tonight on the phone talking with Uncle George.  Literally while on the phone with him, the emergency vehicles were going by and sure enough, one was using the PA system on the car to tell everyone in the neighborhood to evacuate their homes.  He and Tip left right away, heading off to a hotel, along with many others escaping the approach of the Hughes Fire.  Mom and I were watching coverage in California where he is, watching the planes aggressively attacking this fire with so many deluges of water from above, impressive barrages of water just flooding out areas below.  By the evening's end, it was clear that the firefighters were getting the upper hand.  But given the other recent fire disaster, it was certainly a frightening moment for many in that region.  

We didn't have school today, and I worked from home - it was a "cold" day, I guess.  Many areas south of here are still dealing with snow and ice, but not us.  We had none of that, and no vultures either, I'm happy to report.  We were working from home on skits and messages and Maddie was doing school work of course.  I got all the trees down and furniture back in place, nearly wrapping up the Christmas season in its entirety, although we still have a few things here or there.  

Maddie had FCY tonight, and that was great.  Skylar was speaking about worship, and the numbers of kids there tonight were pretty good considering the super cold weather outside.  It's bitter cold, and it will remain so for a while.  We're keeping the faucet dripping overnight, as are many in the area.

We had a good day today.  We read this evening, moving along with our latest Discworld book - and then after that, it was time to tuck everyone in (after prayers, of course!).  I think Maddie might have school tomorrow, but I'm not sure!  

Vulture

Pretty epic snow elsewhere though!  I love, love, love the images of people skiing down Bourbon Street in New Orleans - it's just an amazing thing.  And seeing all the palm trees covered in snow along the beaches of the gulf is just the imagery we were having fun with last summer when we came up with the theme of a Tropical Freeze Summer Xtreme.  It's all been pretty fantastic!

No snow here though, and yeah it's disappointing in a way.  But it's okay because we got snow a week ago or so, and winter's not over yet.  In fact, it's super cold tonight, dipping into the teens I think.  Frigid cold! We had the fire in the fireplace for the first time, more as a visual but also to get air circulating up and out instead of the cold air coming in that way.  It looked nice!  

And then we heard the banging and clanging.  What is that in the chimney?  We thought there was something that made its way into our chimney, and we were ready to catch it when it came down - but it never did.  And we never heard any organic sort of noises, like chirping or squeaking or whatever.  So I went outside and it was 27 degrees at that time, and it was still just a little daylight left.  I looked up, and we had a vulture on top of our chimney.  

Yeah, a vulture!  Weird, huh?  I mean, it's rare we see them in the neighborhood, although a few weeks ago I saw two near the front entrance.  I kind of like vultures, and of course what they do is important work.  But still, it's kind of creepy seeing one lurking on top of your house.  And it was in a completely inaccessible place.  So for several hours it sat up there.  We know this, because periodically, there was the banging and clanging sound in the fireplace.  We theorized, and I think correctly, that it was happy to find a place of warmth, the hot air going upwards to make the vulture more comfortable.  Anyway, it was odd to say the least!

I was over at Hebron this morning with KidPak, and the rest of the day at the office working on some new series stuff and a maybe a skit for this weekend.  We did some filming too, a pretty funny segment about an unappreciated gift.  Maddie had no school today because of the weather threat.  But again, nothing ever materialized for us.  Now elsewhere?  Yeah.  It was a weird spotty snowstorm.  Flowery Branch and Braselton got about an inch of snow.  We didn't even see a flurry here.  Atlanta got a good bit of snow.  South of here in Forsyth got nothing.  Tomorrow our visit to Hebron is cancelled because Dacula got a good bit of snow.  Maddie has another day off too, and she's obviously thrilled with that.  She gets to sleep in!

Tonight we saw "Mulan" again, the live action version.  We enjoyed this one again - we haven't seen it in a while, so there were certain things I forgot.  But it was a pretty unique version of the story.  It was super cool seeing the cameo at the end.  Speaking of which, soon we'll complete our "Mulan-athon" by watching "Mulan II," the animated Disney movie.  That one was fun too.

We closed out the night with reading, and with prayers too.  It's been a cold day out there!

Inauguration 2

Well, historical sort of day today, and hopefully in a good way.  President Trump is back for his second term, and given that it was so cold outside, he chose to do the ceremony indoors in the rotunda.  It made me want to go back to Washington again, seeing all these iconic locations.  I was there some time ago, and Mom was too, both of us on separate trips.  It'd be nice to return, and Maddie did express an interest in going.

In any event, Maddie had the Trump rubber duck watching the television as we basically spent the day watching various events.  Mom and I were remarking how despite it all, we were glad we were to get to see him - and others - along the campaign trail.  

We saw the two Presidents leave for the capital together, and we saw the inauguration itself again.  These inaugurations are so amazing to see, with such a heavy sense of history.  Some time ago, I remember one day seeing all these people in a Trump Store, and that being the day I thought that Trump could really be re-elected.  It was wild to think that was a possibility, and yet here we are, right?

After that, there were a few other events too, and we caught some of those on the phone because we had an appointment with Doc Williams today too.

They were excited about the inauguration there too, and Dr. Williams was pretty happy to get a Trump rubber duck from us. We had quite a few of them, and have been giving them away here and there on Sunday and then today.  

We got our adjustments, and then we headed back home to watch some more on television - the parades, the executive orders in the arena, the galas... it's been called the start of a "Golden Era."

We continued our reading tonight, and we said our prayers afterwards.  It's been an otherwise quiet but cold day outside.  We got under those blankets and got to sleep eventually - those galas went late into the night!

Stress Lemon

Funny day today at KidPak.  The morning we had one of our favorite old sketches about self-control.  It's the one where we host a Video Game Players Anonymous meeting.  You can see one of our characters losing control about up top.  Our therapist looks like Carmen Miranda, and anyone feeling tense gets a Stress Lemon.

It's a really fun skit, and of course the bottom line is very clear about self-control, a Fruit of the Spirit.

Afterwards, Maddie went to a birthday party for her friend, one with the theme of "HEAR ME OUT."  It was really, really fun.

 

Maddie and the other girls were printing out images of crushes and funny characters - Maddie has a hilarious video of the girls, one by one, placing their "hear me outs" onto the large chocolate cake, and it was a really fun moment.  They had a wonderful afternoon together.

Tonight we continued work on our latest puzzle, one themed to "Mulan," and while putting that together we actually watched the original "Mulan" together.  Maddie hadn't seen it in a while, and we all enjoyed it quite a bit again!  

We closed out the day with reading and with prayers.  It's getting COLD out there!  A super rare polar event is sweeping down all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, and it's really amazing to think of this, but there is a forecast of significant snow along the Gulf Coast early this week.  Wild!

The weather has been so significant across this country that the inauguration tomorrow for the President will be moved indoors.  The coldest temperatures here this week, and we might see some flurries this week too.  Winter's not done with us yet!