Poem

I thought I should share Autumn's latest work.

"I'm cooking my sister for dinner,
Everyone's making a fuss.
We keep talking bout dinner,
And dinner keeps talking bout us. "

Brilliant...

Work

Nash was helping me hook the camper up to the Avalanche and he asked, "Why do you have to go to work?" I was about to answer and he said, "Oh, I know. So you can serve God and get money for your family." His answer was better than mine...

Graduation!

Our baby girl graduating...

Pianer

The girls are practicing for the recital and I hear Molly say, "A one, a two, a you know what to do..."  I love those kinds of carry overs.

The Boy

Family...And overwhelming shame...And hope?

If you haven't read this book (and I'm guessing you haven't) you should.  I am not sure how you'll receive it, but you should still read it.  I don't read.  When I do read, it's in two or three book "sprints" that leave me exhausted.  Michele got me "Lone Survivor" for Christmas and I read that.  It was hard reading, not because it was technically difficult, it was hard because I felt like crying the whole time.  Fresh off my success with one ENTIRE book read, I started this one and just finished it today.

It is basically entirely foreign, intensely convicting, capable of leaving one feel deeply ashamed, and yet left me more encouraged about certain aspects of life than I have been in a long time.  If there was ever a ("defense" doesn't sound right, maybe "argument in support of"?) home schooling/worship re-thinking/church re-organizing, this is it.  Or at least this is the one that says a lot of what I think in a much better way than I ever could.

Seriously, read it.  I'm sure you'll disagree, but I need to know why.  Chapter 3 was REALLY hard to read because I've completely blown it there.  The rest aren't much easier, but they're a good blueprint.  Family worship time?  Why don't we have family worship time?  Segregated church service?  Why exactly do we have that? (Besides the fact children, mine in particular, are largely undisciplined)

Vegas Part II

I never did follow up the riveting Vegas Part 1 post, so I'll do that now.  Vegas is not as scary as I had imagined, in fact, I can even see bringing the family here so they can say they've seen the place.  Sure, if you're looking for trouble, you can find it in every variety known to man, but the thing is....you have a choice.  You can choose NOT to look for trouble, so then it just becomes a strange, ridiculous town smeared across a barren landscape.  Hoover Dam is worth the trip just by itself, and then there's Lake Mead and all.

Drive the strip during the day, it becomes a parking lot at night.  I wouldn't walk the strip after about 5:00pm.  I walked to see Dan and Helynn about that time and it was still a reasonable atmosphere.  Of course, I was delirious from the the 2 mile hike/jog so who know what I was not seeing as I "Fat Boy Waddled" through the crowd.  Hotels are cheap, meals are not.  The Atomic Testing Museum was neat and parts of town are rather cool.  Like the McDonald's with the automatic door, I guess even the Mob likes convenience...

The days of the cheap buffets and shows are gone, so that stinks, but I figure everyone should see the Ridiculous Town at least once.  If for no other reason than to see all of what is wrong with the world together in one place.