Our Family's Blog

a little good news

2012-01-16T09:26:00.000-06:00

http://www.ecfa.org/Content/Major-US-Supreme-Court-Victory-for-the-Freedom-of-Religious-Organizations

On January 12 the US Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision upholding the freedom of religious organizations to decide who will be their leaders and teachers. The case, Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, was about the validity of the "ministerial exception"--a concept created by lower federal courts in response to the First Amendment's Religion Clauses. Those clauses say that the government must respect religious exercise while not establishing religion. The Supreme Court upheld the reality of the ministerial exception while sharply chastising the federal government for denying its existence.

A little afternoon baseball

2010-08-07T20:27:00.007-05:00

Hay!

2010-08-07T20:22:00.002-05:00

(pictures by Samuel)

Our pasture was raked and baled today.

$18,560

2010-08-03T09:05:00.002-05:00

Look's like our family's share of Illinois debt is $18,560. Well, at least we don't live in Connecticut. (sorry Norm)

your new health care plan

2010-08-02T07:17:00.001-05:00

Here's a look at your new health care plan. I'm sure this will run like a well oiled machine...

HERE

Harvesting

2010-07-31T18:31:00.001-05:00

today we put up -

80 pounds of sweetcorn (cut off the cob)

30 quarts of applesauce

1 gallon of fresh salsa

3 cantaloupes

and now, we're tired...

Tennessee Flood Relief (trip II)

2010-07-14T08:45:00.012-05:00

The "work crew".

The "support crew".

Fellowship!

Did I mention all the food? Thanks Bandy's!!!

Great music!

Happy Second Day of July

2010-07-02T11:43:00.002-05:00

“The second of July 1776 will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great Anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty, solemnized with pomp and parade, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of the continent to the other from this time forward, forever more. You will think me transported with enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration and support and defend these States. Yet through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is worth all the means. And that posterity will triumph in that day’s transaction even though we should rue it, which I trust in God we shall not.” - John Adams

See the “background” section of this wiki article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_(United_States)

A Visual for Our National Debt

2010-06-30T11:31:00.003-05:00

Our national debt (not including private debt) is just over 13 trillion dollars. We all hear these kind of number all the time, right? And we all know that's a lot of money, right?

But what does it look like?

Check out this webpage ( http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/index.html ) and remember, multiply the last illustration by 13.

Have a nice day.

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

A Tip of the Mop Cap...

2010-06-29T06:32:00.003-05:00

... to the ladies.

This Day in History - June 29 1778

Molly Pitcher

In the Battle of Monmouth a shot from the British artillery instantly killed an American gunner while working his piece. His wife, Mary, a young Irishwoman twenty-two years of age, had been fetching water to him from a spring near by. When he fell there appeared no one competent to fill his place, and the piece was ordered to be removed. Mary heard the order, and, dropping her bucket and seizing a rammer, vowed that she would fill her husband's place at the gun and avenge his death. She did so with skill and courage. The next morning she was presented to George Washington by General Greene, who was so pleased with her bravery that he gave her a commission as sergeant and had her name placed on the pay-list for life. The fame of "Sergeant Mary," or Molly Pitcher, as she was more generally known, spread throughout the army.

Signs of living in a small township

2010-06-28T09:41:00.002-05:00

Close but a Win Nonetheless

2010-06-28T09:34:00.003-05:00

High Court’s Big Ruling For Gun Rights

June 28, 2010 - 10:07 AM | by: Lee Ross

In its second major ruling on gun rights in three years, the Supreme Court Monday extended the federally protected right to keep and bear arms to all 50 states. The decision will be hailed by gun rights advocates and comes over the opposition of gun control groups, the city of Chicago and four justices.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the five justice majority saying "the right to keep and bear arms must be regarded as a substantive guarantee, not a prohibition that could be ignored so long as the States legislated in an evenhanded manner."

The ruling builds upon the Court's 2008 decision in D.C. v. Heller that invalidated the handgun ban in the nation's capital. More importantly, that decision held that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms was a right the Founders specifically delegated to individuals. The justices affirmed that decision and extended its reach to the 50 states. Today's ruling also invalidates Chicago's handgun ban.

Duckling Follow-up

2010-06-26T20:19:00.000-05:00

The best count we have is 14 ducklings.

Mountain o Weeds

2010-06-26T20:14:00.001-05:00

This is what happens when you get behind on weeding. We pulled the vast majority of these this morning.

We have new ducklings...

2010-06-26T13:51:00.001-05:00

... can you tell?

Ode to a Sheltie

2010-06-20T20:07:00.002-05:00

Colton's dog Skipper was hit by a car and killed recently. Here is a short piece Samuel put together in her memory.

Peas in a Pod

2010-06-20T18:44:00.000-05:00

We're OK

2010-06-06T08:13:00.002-05:00

For those who may be wondering, the tornado was a half mile north of our house. I don't think it actually touched down but it was reported by several spotters.

No major damage here, though the chicken tractor is now upside down in the middle of the drive way.

Thanks for the prayers.

How does our garden grow? (and oats too)

2010-06-05T17:23:00.008-05:00

(sorry about the quality of the pictures, they are taken with my phone)

Oats looking to the southeast, there is alfalfa underneath about half as tall as the oats.

Oats looking to the southwest, note the semi on the interstate in the upper left hand corner.

We have a fairly large garden this year with two other families having plots of their own.

I believe they plants with the yellow flowers are mustard plants.

We have lots of potatoes!

Samuel's sweet corn.

more later...

Mmmm, Memorial Day

2010-06-01T09:13:00.003-05:00

TN Update

2010-05-10T13:38:00.003-05:00

It's been raining all morning but we did get some work on the Lingo's new fence.

Lunch was provided by the Red Cross.

And after lunch we're headed back to the field to work on the fencing.

headin' to tennessee...

2010-05-09T15:43:00.003-05:00

Helping with a little flood relief.

235 Years Ago Today

2010-04-19T11:28:00.007-05:00

A great account of the day is here.

“I ... ordered our Militia to meet on the Common in said Lexington to consult what to do, and concluded not to be discovered, nor meddle or make with said Regular Troops (if they should approach) unless they should insult or molest us; and, upon their sudden Approach, I immediately ordered our Militia to disperse, and not to fire:—Immediately said Troops made their appearance and rushed furiously, fired upon, and killed eight of our Party without receiving any Provocation therefor from us.” – Captain John Parker

”At 5 o’clock we arrived [in Lexington], and saw a number of people, I believe between 200 and 300, formed in a common in the middle of town; we still continued advancing, keeping prepared against an attack through without intending to attack them; but on our coming near them they fired on us two shots, upon which our men without any orders, rushed upon them, fired and put them to flight; several of them were killed, we could not tell how many, because they were behind walls and into the woods. We had a man of the 10th light Infantry wounded, nobody else was hurt. We then formed on the Common, but with some difficulty, the men were so wild they could hear no orders; we waited a considerable time there, and at length proceeded our way to Concord.” – Lieutenant John Barker, 4th Regiment of Foot

I highly recommend this book by Jonas Clarke, Pastor at Lexington. This is his eye witness account of the event plus his sermon on the one year anniversary of the battle.

Spring Planting

2010-04-13T05:52:00.008-05:00

Our oats are up in the pasture! They grew about an inch and a half on Monday!

'Cuz I got friends with tractors... A good friend loaned us this contraption to till out garden. Not only was this tractor fun to drive but it did a fantastic job preparing our seed beds!

That is world class Central Illinois dirt, right there...

Some friends from church planting their own veggies. (if you squint just right, you can see a couple windmills on the horizon)

Faith is planting peas and Levi is planting basil.

Now, pray for rain...

Spring Flowers in the Tree

2010-04-11T20:06:00.003-05:00

The Dumb Soldier

2010-04-11T20:02:00.001-05:00

The Dumb Soldier

When the grass was closely mown,

Walking on the lawn alone,

In the turf a hole I found

And hid a soldier underground.

Spring and daisies came apace;

Grasses hid my hiding-place;

Grasses run like a green sea

O'er the lawn up to my knee.

Under grass alone he lies,

Looking up with leaden eyes,

Scarlet coat and pointed gun,

To the stars and to the sun.

When the grass is ripe like grain,

When the scythe is stoned again,

When the lawn is shaven clear,

Then my hole shall reappear.

I shall find him, never fear,

I shall find my grenadier;

But, for all that's gone and come,

I shall find my soldier dumb.

He has lived, a little thing,

In the grassy woods of spring;

Done, if he could tell me true,

Just as I should like to do.

He has seen the starry hours

And the springing of the flowers;

And the fairy things that pass

In the forests of the grass.

In the silence he has heard

Talking bee and ladybird,

And the butterfly has flown

O'er him as he lay alone.

Not a word will he disclose,

Not a word of all he knows.

I must lay him on the shelf,

And make up the tale myself.

Robert Louis Stevenson

The Painting has Begun!

2010-04-08T11:06:00.004-05:00

It's baby camo pink!?!?!

They promise me this is not the final color.

Illinois makes me proud!

2010-04-07T12:42:00.003-05:00

Illinois 17th District Congessman Phil Hare

That was some storm last night!

2010-04-05T06:36:00.002-05:00

Yep, that's our hen house on it's roof.

(note the hens are still in there)

Plantin' Grass Today

2010-04-02T07:51:00.007-05:00

Today, our friend Josh (farmer/high speed internet tech/youth group leader/local Deacon) will be sowing alfalfa in our pasture. So, what can we do with a couple acres of grass?

This shot is for my friends in TN. This is dirt, note the lack of rocks! ;-)

Here Comes the Pain

2010-03-25T07:44:00.001-05:00

Oh, this must be where the "change" comes from...

Here Comes the Pain

Most summaries of ObamaCare focus on the benefits of reform and when they phase in. The Karen Davis summary, for example, lists only benefits — as though the entire package was one big free lunch. Benefits must be paid for, however. Here is how paying for reform phases in:

2010

10% tax on tanning salons

2011

Tax on brand name drugs ($2.5 billion).
Medicare cut $1 billion ($22 per senior/disabled)
Medicare Advantage cut $2 billion ($195 per senior)
Increase in tax on non-medical Health Savings Account withdrawals from 15% to 20%
Over-the-counter drugs become taxable ($400 million)

2012

Tax on brand name drugs increased to $3 billion.
Medicare cut $5 billion ($112 per senior)
Medicare Advantage cut $6 billion ($585 per senior)
Tax on Over-the-counter drugs ($600 million)

2013

Taxes on wage income rises from 1.45 to 2.35% (for singles earning more than $200,000 a year (families above $250,000).
New tax on unearned investment income 3.8% (for singles earning more than $200,000 a year (families above $250,000).
New taxes on wheelchairs and other medical devices (2.9%)
Flexible Spending Account contributions limited to $2500 annually
Floor for deductible medical expenses increased from 7.5% of AGI to 10%
Medicare cut $9 billion ($201 per senior)
Medicare Advantage cut $9 billion ($877 per senior)
Tax on Over-the-counter drugs ($600 million)

2014

Individual Mandate: fine: $95
Employer Mandate: fine: $2,000 per-worker
Medicare cut $13 billion ($290 per senior)
Medicare Advantage cut $13 billion ($1,267 per senior)
Tax on Over-the-counter drugs ($600 million)
Tax on health insurers ($6.1 billion)

good question

2010-03-11T08:08:00.000-06:00

We buried Enoch...

2010-03-02T09:24:00.004-06:00

... this past Lord's day.

Several of us gathered Sunday afternoon to say a final "see ya later" to Enoch Zacharias Evans.

We prayed, we sang, we cried, we sought comfort from God's Holy Word. A very good friend of mine, who has suffered the loss of many children, said a few words, mostly telling us it was okay to be sad and that death is our enemy.

We placed our baby boy in the ground to these words...

In sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal

life through our Lord Jesus Christ, we commit the

body of this child to the ground. The LORD bless him and

keep him, the LORD make his face to shine upon him and

be gracious unto him, the LORD lift up his countenance upon

him, and give him peace, both now and evermore.

I really don't know what else to say, so I will close with these words.

My heart was made to dream

So from the moment I first heard the seed had been planted
I looked to the harvest

I wondered if your smile would be Impish, or shy
I imagined you playing at your brother’s wedding celebration
I hoped that I would be able to dance at yours

And then the truth routed the green that never was
From your little plot of earth

I miss you

But I am glad that you have not paused here

As I have

Where the dirt will know the color of my blood
And the taste of my tears

My heart was made to believe

So from the moment I heard not your heart
I knew your path

That you smile at the face of our Father
And when the Bridegroom comes, we will laugh and dance together

Walk with God, dear Enoch…

Theresa Lansberry

Nobel Peace Prize Winner Asks for $741 Billion for Wars

2010-01-13T15:57:00.000-06:00

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100113/D9D6RFGG1.html

President Barack Obama will ask Congress for an additional $33 billion to fight unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on top of a record $708 billion for the Defense Department next year, The Associated Press has learned - a request that could be an especially hard sell to some of the administration's Democratic allies.

For unto you...

2009-12-24T19:03:00.001-06:00

... is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Hark the herald angels sing!

2009-12-24T07:52:00.001-06:00

Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Christ by highest heav'n adored
Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a Virgin's womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Day Fourteen and Counting

2009-12-04T15:01:00.000-06:00

For the fourteenth straight day, the three broadcast networks have failed to report on the great and growing ClimateGate scandal on their weekday morning or evening news programs.

Soft Despots

2009-12-03T08:59:00.000-06:00

Does this sound familiar to anyone else?

Soft despots love "the fact that the citizens enjoy themselves provided they dream solely of their own enjoyment. It works willingly for their happiness, but it wishes to be the only agent and sole arbiter of that happiness. It provides for their security, foresees and supplies their needs, guides them in their principal affairs, directs their industry, regulates their testaments, divides their inheritances . . . After having taken each individual in this fashion by turns into its powerful hands, and after having kneaded him in accord with its desires, the sovereign extends its arms about the society as a whole; it covers its surface with a network of petty regulations -- complicated, minute, and uniform -- through which even the most original minds and the most vigorous souls know not how to make their way past the crowd and emerge into the light of day. It does not break wills; it softens them, bends them, and directs them; rarely does it force one to act, but it constantly opposes itself to one's acting on one's own; it does not destroy, it prevents things from being born; it does not tyrannize, it gets in the way: it curtails, it enervates, it extinguishes, it stupifies, and finally it reduces each nation to nothing more than a herd of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd" ~~ Alexis de Tocqueville

The 12 Days Of Global Warming

2009-12-01T09:09:00.004-06:00

;-)

...it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge... Almighty God

2009-11-26T06:08:00.001-06:00

George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

Did somebody mention...

2009-11-24T05:52:00.000-06:00

... global warming?

Sabbath Feast

2009-11-14T18:42:00.001-06:00

Mmmm... my wife found ribeye steaks on Manager Special.

Praise the Lord!

Walking by Faith

2009-11-11T05:49:00.002-06:00

(Thanks Lingo's)

Oh, I think I forgot to mention...

2009-11-10T06:53:00.000-06:00

...we're having another baby in July!

:-)

More Global Warming

2009-10-07T15:35:00.001-05:00

BELLEVUE, ID -- Just one week ago, we were bracing for a "cool down" from the 80s to the 60s.

Now, it's getting downright wintry. And in some parts of our viewing area, snow is piling up.

This may be one for the record books, not only how early this heavy fall snowstorm is, but the fact that it appears to have created the earliest snow day in the history of the Blaine County School District.

National Life Chain

2009-10-05T11:42:00.001-05:00

Peorians participate in National Life Chain

Why the Rush? - Grace-Marie Turner

2009-09-29T13:36:00.000-05:00

Only one in five Americans say their health-insurance coverage and the quality of the care they receive will improve if a bill passes Congress this year. But the Senate Finance Committee nonetheless presses on, planning to resume debate Tuesday on more than 500 amendments submitted to Chairman Baucus’s 220-page “summary” of legislation. (“Read the bill! What bill?”) In their willingness to order people’s lives, intrude into their heath-care decisions, and spend taxpayers’ money for generations to come, lawmakers are exhibiting breathtaking hubris.

Ukrainians Don’t Understand

2009-09-29T13:33:00.000-05:00

If you want a fascinating perspective on USAmerican politics, come to Ukraine. You know about Ukraine’s turbulent, at times, very tragic history under Stalin and as a member country of the former U.S.S.R. What Ukrainians don’t understand is why, under Obama and his administration, the U.S.A. wants to go socialist in light of the wreckage of socialism all over Eastern Europe. We Americans have no memory of actually living under the “ideal” of ‘from each according to his ability to each according to his need’ in which the “power of the working people” ends up being the power of just a select few, ruling elite people. Ukrainians have a blazing memory of these alleged good-for-the-people-ideals. They want no part of it ever again. Even with all our problems as a country, my Ukrainian friends marvel at our founding fathers and the principles they created to form a free republic. It is ironic to hear George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and our own Constitution quoted to me by Ukrainians.

One good Ukrainian friend told me, “If your government is big enough to give you all that you need, it is then big enough to take all that you have.” Think about that.

This guy keeps talking...

2009-09-15T16:50:00.000-05:00

... but nobody wants to listen.

911 - Doug Wilson Style

2009-09-11T14:56:00.001-05:00

911
Topic: Politics

It has been eight years since the horrific attack on the World Trade Towers. If all you had to go on was our typical left/right tangled discussions of the event, you would conclude either that Obama struck the right note on his international apology tour, assuming in the background of his speech that America somehow had it coming because of our international hubris or, on the other hand, that America was fully justified in the Bush policy of kicking as much Islamobutt as we could.

But there is another option, one that I think American Christians need to meditate on more. This is something the "never forget" commemorations of 911 have thus far left out. Those who refuse to commemorate 911 also leave it out. The left wants to blame America first in our horizontal disputes, and the right wants to defend America first in our horizontal disputes. And, as far as that goes, I am happy to defend our nation in these horizontal disputes.

But the problem is that there is another dispute that is ongoing -- and this is a vertical one. In the eight years since 911, about 10.4 million Americans have lost their lives through the atrocity of abortion. This was about 1.3 million a year -- over 3,000 a day. Those who perpetrated 911 killed 3,000 in one day, and they perished at the same time. But the ghouls in charge of our judicial system, and the one we elected to appoint new justices to the top of that system, preside over 3,000 deaths a day, every day, non-stop. Just since 911, we have conducted over three thousand 911s ourselves. And just like the terrorists, we have a cloak of self-justification. The only difference is that we need a much bigger cloak.

But keep the distinction between horizontal and vertical in mind. Agreeing that Yahweh had a judgment to bring against Israel, one that He justly brought by means of the wicked Assyrians, is not the same as saying that the Assyrians had the right to do what they did (Is. 10: 1-19). We are a stiff-necked people, and it is only through the mercy of God that we are not consumed.

Posted by Douglas Wilson

Pray for Global Warming?

2009-01-19T09:46:00.003-06:00

It's time to pray for global warming, says Flint Journal columnist John Tomlinson
If you're wondering why North America is starting to resemble nuclear winter, then you missed the news.

At December's U.N. Global Warming conference in Poznan, Poland, 650 of the world's top climatologists stood up and said man-made global warming is a media generated myth without basis. Said climatologist Dr. David Gee, Chairman of the International Geological Congress, "For how many years must the planet cool before we begin to understand that the planet is not warming?"
I asked myself, why would such obviously smart guy say such a ridiculous thing? But it turns out he's right.
The earth's temperature peaked in 1998. It's been falling ever since; it dropped dramatically in 2007 and got worse in 2008, when temperatures touched 1980 levels.

Meanwhile, the University of Illinois' Arctic Climate Research Center released conclusive satellite photos showing that Arctic ice is back to 1979 levels. What's more, measurements of Antarctic ice now show that its accumulation is up 5 percent since 1980.

Read the rest here.

Bryan

An Evans Family Christmas Tradition

2008-12-25T14:51:00.002-06:00

That's right... sausage gravy! This is another recipe from Jeff Smith's The Frugal Gourmet Cooks America.

"To many people in this country this old southern breakfast favorite sounds like something cheap or inferior to a real breakfast of bacon and eggs. It actually has roots in England and was a common meal from very early times in America. I have tasted biscuits and gravy all over the country, and the meals have ranged from simply inedible to wonderful. St. Louis makes great biscuits and gravy. Atlanta can do it too. Florida? Forget about it. The secret to good gravy is the sausage. Use a quality pork sausage that is low in fat and not filled with heavy seasoning and salt. The dish takes very few minutes to make and it just makes the day. This dish is made in a frying pan. Heat the pan and fry the sausage and onion until the sausage is brown and the onion clear. Drain off all grease except for 2 tablespoons. Stir in the flour and cook for just a minute. Add the hot milk. I heat mine in the microwave. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens and then season with salt and pepper. I doubt that you will need much salt, but pepper will be a must. Serve over warm opened biscuits." ~~ Jeff Smith

½ pounds Bulk pork breakfast sausage
2 tablespoons Chopped yellow onion
3 tablespoons Flour
2 cups Hot milk
Salt & pepper to taste

For many years we have started Christmas day with sausage gravy and biscuits for breakfast. Enjoy!

Bryan

A Nation of Thieves

2008-12-17T05:57:00.001-06:00

"The bottom line is that we've become a nation of thieves, a value rejected by our founders. James Madison, the father of our Constitution, was horrified when Congress appropriated $15,000 to help French refugees. He said, 'I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.' Tragically, today's Americans would run Madison out of town on a rail." - Dr. Walter Williams

Bryan

Just because...

2008-12-10T06:38:00.000-06:00

... somebody needed to post it!

"Today, a major economic crisis is unfolding. New government programs are started daily, and future plans are being made for even more. All are based on the belief that we're in this mess because free-market capitalism and sound money failed. The obsession is with more spending, bailouts of bad investments, more debt, and further dollar debasement. Many are saying we need an international answer to our problems with the establishment of a world central bank and a single fiat reserve currency. These suggestions are merely more of the same policies that created our mess and are doomed to fail."

"The choice we face is ominous: We either accept world-wide authoritarian government holding together a flawed system, or we restore the principles of the Constitution, limit government power, restore commodity money without a Federal Reserve system, reject world government, and promote the cause of peace by protecting liberty equally for all persons. Freedom is the answer." - Congressman Ron Paul. Speech, excerpts from: The Austrians Were Right, a speech delivered before the U.S. House of Representatives, November 20, 2008

Bryan

National Ammo Day

2008-11-17T13:58:00.001-06:00

http://www.ammoday.com/

A brief explanation - What is National Ammo Day?

November 19 is National Ammo Day.

It is a nationwide BUYcott of ammunition. You buy ammunition. 100 Rounds a person.

The goals of Ammo Day:

The goal of National Ammo Day is to empty the ammunition from the shelves of your local gun store, sporting goods, or hardware store and put that ammunition in the hands of law-abiding citizens. Make your support of the Second Amendment known--by voting with your dollars!

There are an estimated 75 MILLION gun owners in the United States of America. If each gun owner or Second Amendment supporter buys 100 rounds of ammunition, that’s 7.5 BILLION rounds in the hands of law-abiding citizens!

The gun/ammunition manufacturers have been taking the brunt of all the frivolous lawsuits, trying to put these folks out of business. Well, not if we can help it! And we CAN help it by buying ammunition on November 19!

Bryan

$1.84!!!

2008-11-12T07:13:00.001-06:00

Last night, in Lincoln, IL, I purchased gasoline for $1.84 a gallon!

Enjoy it while you can...

Bryan

Not Funny

2008-11-04T21:47:00.001-06:00

"The problem with political jokes is they get elected." - Henry Cate, VII

Bryan

Politics as Art

2008-11-04T04:38:00.000-06:00

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho Marx

Bryan

To God and Country

2008-11-03T11:32:00.000-06:00

"Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual -- or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country." ~~ Samuel Adams

Bryan

Always Vote for Principle

2008-11-03T05:24:00.001-06:00

Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." ~~ John Quincy Adams

Bryan

The Liberties of Our Country

2008-11-02T22:24:00.001-06:00

"The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil constitution are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men." ~~ Samuel Adams (1722 -1803)

Bryan

People Never Lie...

2008-10-31T05:32:00.001-05:00

"People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election." - Otto von Bismarck

Will this Election never end?

Bryan

Wind Turbine Controversy

2008-10-28T10:04:00.001-05:00

Do Wind Turbines Make Noise?

Bryan

Changing View

2008-10-28T09:52:00.002-05:00

Yesterday afternoon I noticed, for the first time, a crane, about a mile and a half to the southeast.

Just so you know, there is a wind farm going up in our neck of the woods (or should I say, prairie). The first tower is suppose to be up by the end of the month with the additional 66 towers completed by the end of April.

That's right, 67 wind turbines! And we should be able to see every one of them from our second story windows.

I know there are many opinions about wind power but we're kind of excited.

As some of you know it gets really windy where we live, I hope it doesn't cause something like this...

Bryan

Surrender Their Liberties

2008-10-11T05:15:00.002-05:00

“No people will tamely surrender their liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and virtue is preserved. On the contrary, when people are universally ignorant, and debauched in their manners, they will sink under their own weight without the aid of foreign invaders.”

– Samuel Adams (letter to James Warren, 4 November 1775)

Bryan

Freedom?

2008-09-29T11:32:00.002-05:00

"Our system of free enterprise rests on the conviction that the federal government should interfere in the marketplace only when necessary." ~~ G. W. Bush

Hmm. I wonder what happens if I substitute other words for “free enterprise” and “in the marketplace.”

Read the rest HERE.

Bryan

After Ike

2008-09-16T16:10:00.002-05:00

Our basement is now clean and dry. (after removing 18 inches of water)

Our well is full to the top! (after 11 or 12 inches of rain this month!!!)

I'll take that trade...

Bryan

2008-08-20T09:01:00.002-05:00

Jonas at One Week

2008-07-25T18:49:00.004-05:00

Bryan

Just to let ya know...

2008-07-23T14:24:00.001-05:00

... how good God is...

Our well is completely full!!!

A big WOO HOO!!!

Bryan

Jonas Faces

2008-07-23T06:28:00.000-05:00

Bryan

Uh...

2008-07-21T13:42:00.002-05:00

... I just noticed the last couple pictures... Jonas really is a very happy little guy. Really...

Bryan

More Jonas

2008-07-21T13:19:00.000-05:00

Bryan

Waaaa...

2008-07-20T14:32:00.002-05:00

Big Sister

2008-07-20T13:37:00.002-05:00

Bryan

Jonas Meets the Family

2008-07-19T07:54:00.000-05:00

Bryan

Jonas Picture

2008-07-19T07:15:00.002-05:00

Thanks Tiffany.

Bryan

Jonas Pictures

2008-07-18T14:34:00.003-05:00

Bryan

Jonas Clarke?

2008-07-18T14:21:00.001-05:00

Jonas Clark

CLARK, Jonas, clergyman, born in Newton, Massachusetts, 25 December, 1730; died in Lexington, Massachusetts, 15 November, 1805. He was graduated at Harvard in 1752, and ordained as Rev. Mr. Hancock's successor at Lexington, Massachusetts, 5 November, 1755, remaining there till his death. As was common in those days, he was farmer as well as clergyman, and cultivated about sixty acres of land. He was an ardent patriot. Edward Everett says: "Mr. Clark was of a class of citizens who rendered services second to no others in enlightening and animating the popular mind on the great question at issue." He well understood the state of the question between the colonies and the mother country, and from 1762 till 1776 drew up an able series of papers, giving instructions to the representatives sent by the town to the general court. These papers are still among the Lexington town records, and are conceived in a manly, yet calm and respectful spirit. Mr. Clark was noted for his hospitality, and was entertaining John Hancock and Samuel Adams at his house on the night of 18 April, 1775, when Paul Revere warned him of the approach of the expedition sent out by Gage, one of whose objects was to surprise and capture these two patriots. When asked by his guests whether the people would fight, Mr. Clark replied that he had "trained them for this very hour; they would fight, and, if need be, die, too, under the shadow of the house of God." It was but a few rods from Mr. Clark's house that the first blood of the revolution was shed on the following day, 19 April, 1775, and the men that fell were his parishioners. "From this day," said he, when he saw their dead bodies, "will be dated the liberty of the world." Mr. Clark published several sermons, among them one to commemorate the battle of Lexington (1776).

Thanks Seth.

Bryan

Jonas Update

2008-07-18T14:05:00.000-05:00

21 1/2 inches long
8lb 2oz

Second smallest Evans baby yet.

Bryan

Jonas Clarke Evans...

2008-07-18T13:06:00.001-05:00

... was welcomed into this world at 11:24am. Mother and child are doing GREAT!

Bryan

taken on the fourth

2008-07-12T12:39:00.001-05:00

(photo taken by David P over at Black Olive Studios)

More Global Warming?

2008-07-04T08:02:00.004-05:00

I just finished eating breakfast on the porch with the thermometer under 60 degrees.

Today's forecasted high is 10 degree below the average high.

If this is global warming...

Bryan

Read it to Your Children

2008-07-04T07:25:00.001-05:00

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

A Few Quotes

2008-07-04T07:22:00.001-05:00

"Posterity, you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in heaven that ever I took half the pains to preserve it." -- John Adams

"You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments; rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the Great Legislator of the Universe" -- John Adams

"The right to freedom being the gift of God, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave." -- Samuel Adams

Bryan

speaking of "wronger than a very wrong thing"

2008-07-03T06:10:00.004-05:00

A wise man once told me, "the ultimate tyranny is the redefinition of words."

Owner of broken rifle surrenders for 30-month sentence
'The conviction of David Olofson is a gross miscarriage of justice'

(full story HERE)

"A gun that malfunctions is not a machine gun," Larry Pratt, executive director of GOA, said. "What the [federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] has done in the [David] Olofson case has set a precedent that could make any of the millions of Americans that own semi-automatic firearms suddenly the owner [of] an unregistered machine gun at the moment the gun malfunctions."

"It didn't matter the rifle in question had not been intentionally modified for select fire, or that it did not have an M16 bolt carrier … that it did not show any signs of machining or drilling, or that that model had even been recalled a few years back," said a commentary in Guns Magazine on the case against Olofson, of Berlin, Wis.

Basically, it's a machine gun because the government says so, contrary to common definitions and the actual laws on the books.

That is just wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong! (see just weights and measures Proverbs 20:10)

Bryan

This our 232nd Independence Day

2008-07-02T14:28:00.003-05:00

From "The Patriot Post"

The Necessary Holiday

If our nation’s Founders could visit us on this, our 232nd Independence Day, what would they make of us? What would they declare of us?

A hint can be discerned in a letter from John Adams to his wife, Abigail, on July 3, 1776, as the Declaration of Independence had just been approved. “It ought to be commemorated,” said the man who would become our second president, “as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Day’s Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.”

Americans have maintained the “Pomp and Parade” for more than two centuries now, and the “Bonfires and Illuminations” are commonplace, but how often do we recognize Independence Day as “the Day of Deliverance?” How often do we honor it with “solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty”? How often do we contemplate the cost of our freedom, “the Toil and Blood and Treasure?”

Our Founders believed that independence was more than a choice; they viewed our break from royal rule as necessary.

Consider the first statement of the Declaration: “When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

The signatories were emphatic that separation from the crown was not only an objective, but an obligation: “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.—Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.” In conclusion, the Founders wrote, “We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation...”

Their cause, of course, was not anti-government. Rather they objected to the misgovernment of the king, saying, “He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.” Furthermore, the Americans had been patient, petitioning their British rulers for redress for over a decade. Armed hostilities had commenced on April 19, 1775, at the battles of Lexington and Concord, and the colonists faced the full power of the British Empire in their quest for American independence.

One year before taking that step for nationhood, on July 5, 1775, the Continental Congress adopted the Olive Branch Petition, beseeching the British king for a peaceful resolution of the American colonies’ grievances. A day later, that same Congress resolved the “Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking Up Arms.”
King George III refused to read the peace petition and assembled his armies. On July 2, 1776, Richard Henry Lee’s proposal for a formal declaration of separation passed, and the document was ordered printed on July 4.

The war-weary among us today might ask, was independence really necessary?

To pose the question at the outset of the Revolutionary War was to answer it. Representatives of the colonial Americans realized that, in voicing this query, they already possessed proof that they, not the King of England, were legitimate instruments of self-government for their countrymen. How could circumstances be otherwise when the king offered no remedy for his subjects’ complaints, no guarantee their rights would be respected, and no means for them to govern themselves in their new lands?

The founders knew, however, that power could not be its own justification. They recognized that only an appeal to overarching laws, binding the king as much as his subjects, was legitimate. And abuse of authority demonstrated disqualification of any governor, whether a monarch or a purported representative.

We would do well to apply this insight to the political debates of today.

Indeed, two competing philosophies of government at odds during the American Revolution have reappeared, with the anti-republican form seen in those politicians who would seek to gain favor by manipulating language and misrepresenting their positions. Royalists, on the other hand, believed that the king was divinely ordained to rule over the people and was therefore above the law. This view is manifest currently in government officials—especially our elected officers—who believe they may properly command the citizenry to whatever they please, to whichever they purport to be for the good of the people.

As Thomas Jefferson observed, “Were we directed from Washington when to sow, and when to reap, we should soon want bread.” Yet the prevailing philosophy of government proposes exactly this—that directions from Washington as to how we must conduct ourselves, in matters large and small, will lead inexorably to scarcity and will inevitably erode our freedom.

Our system of government today is not so different from the monarchy we escaped, except that a swarm of bureaucrats have taken up the throne.

A necessity thus presents itself to us as well: We must reconnect with the timeless principles that inspired our Founding Fathers; those same principles that long ago gave birth to a good, great and God-blessed nation.

“[W]hat do we mean by the American Revolution?” reflected John Adams. “Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations... This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.”

Let us celebrate this Independence Day 2008 in a manner that Adams himself might recognize—with “solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty,” and with a rededication to the principles of our necessary American Revolution. And as always, in the words of George Washington, “Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.”

Bryan

For those who may have missed it.

2008-06-27T11:01:00.001-05:00

Answering a 217-year old constitutional question, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to have a gun, at least in one’s home. The Court, splitting 5-4, struck down a District of Columbia ban on handgun possession. Although times have changed since 1791, Justice Antonin Scalia said for the majority, “it is not the role of this Court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct.”

I posted a really good article on the topic HERE.

Bryan

Our Front Porch

2008-06-24T06:16:00.004-05:00

The weather here in Central Illinois has been fabulous of late, allowing Our Family to spend many hours on the front porch. We've been eating all of our meals, entertaining friends, reading, watching cars go by, enjoying board games, napping and playing music on the porch.

It has literally been weeks since we ate a meal in the house. We have been enjoying breakfast lunch and dinner outside. We have two large picnic tables on the porch which allow us all to eat together and even squeeze another family or two on the porch for a meal.

Last night we had good friends over for Chinese. Pork, rice, noodles and veggies. They brought three different kinds of ice cream. The wine flowed and the coffee was strong and hot! Ah... the blessings of God! Great food, good drink, great friends and near perfect weather. It really doesn't get much better than that.

We talked about life, we laughed, we sang, we played music, we toured the garden, we chased chickens, we dreamed a little (seeking God's favor) and the children played long and hard past dark...

The weather will probably change soon, July is just around the corner. We will most likely be driven indoors by the oppressive summer heat seeking the comfort of the air conditioning. We will still entertain and dream and laugh and play music. And this too will be a blessing, great memories to last a lifetime... We may even run out to the porch for the occasional thunderstorm or beautiful sunset. But with Mama due the first part of August, we will mostly stay inside.

But I will miss the porch, the breeze, the "couch", the commotion of playing children, the hens looking for insects, Sammy playing guitar, the sound of the trucks on the interstate, the massive sunsets...

Bryan

20080621 - Well Report

2008-06-21T08:47:00.001-05:00

Samuel Logan checked the well yesterday and it is full to the top!!!

Praise the Lord!

Bryan

It's hard to argue with this...

2008-06-10T11:47:00.004-05:00

...and we certainly don't want that...

Bryan

Showers of Blessings

2008-06-07T22:08:00.001-05:00

Samuel Logan checked our well today. It's completely full, all the way up to the top!

...and more rain in the forecast for next week. God is good!

Bryan

An Elephant?

2008-06-07T14:56:00.002-05:00

We saw a giant elephant traveling down the interstate earlier today.

Ya just never know...

Bryan

Appleseed Review

2008-06-02T12:12:00.001-05:00

I wrote up a little review of the Appleseed I attended HERE.

Bryan

It's all in!

2008-05-30T11:47:00.000-05:00

The garden is planted!

Jacob, Grace and I just did the last planting.

Samuel Logan

Big News...

2008-05-26T20:25:00.003-05:00

... at Our Family's Sportsman's Club. HERE

And some pictures just because it was a nice evening.

Bryan

Corn Planting

2008-05-26T20:11:00.000-05:00

Our friend Josh planted our field in corn today. And left us room for a BIG garden!

He thinks he'll probably re-seed it in hay next year.

Bryan

ClearPlay - a review

2008-05-23T09:01:00.001-05:00

When our family was on our "extended vacation" to Tennessee. We much enjoyed the family film nights hosted by Heritage Church. One of the best parts of the family film nights was the ClearPlay Movie Filtering System owned by the Lovett family. The ClearPlay Filtering System is a DVD player that has the ability to take downloadable and customizable filters and use them on regular DVDs.

These filters are built by the staff at ClearPlay and as a result are much smarter than machine generated filters such as the tvgaurdian. ClearPlay has an additional advantage in that it will filter not only language but a variety of unwanted movie themes, such as Immorality, gore, frightening images, dishonoring of parents, violence…..(hmmm half the movies on my shelf just got shortened from two hours to ten minutes)…..right down to flag desecration and rotting skeletons. Of course all the filters are fully customizable…..So if you want to watch gunfights or rotting skeletons you can turn that part of the filter off. This is the real deal. It cuts so well you can almost never tell when it cuts a scene.

So, if you like watching movies as a family and don't like watching offensive material, stop cursing the darkness and go buy a candle..ur um…ClearPlay DVD player. Here is a video of how the ClearPlay works. And here is the cheapest place to purchase the system.

One more note. You will need to purchase a DVD player AND a ClearPlay Membership in order to be able to download the filters from their website.

Colton James

"Settled Science"

2008-05-21T15:11:00.004-05:00

Take a look see right HERE.

Last year, for instance, saw a drop in the global average temperature of nearly 0.7 degrees C (the largest single-year movement up or down since global temperature averages have been calculated). Despite advanced predictions that 2007 would be the warmest year on record, made by such UN associates as Britain's Hadley Centre, a government climate research agency, 2007 was the coolest year since at least 1993.
According to the U. S. National Climatic Data Center, the average temperature of the global land surface in January 2008 was below the 20th-Century mean for the first time since 1982.
Also in January, Southern Hemisphere sea ice coverage was at its greatest summer level (January is summer in the Southern Hemisphere) in the past 30 years.

Next they'll be telling us the world's population is exploding. HERE (watch that trailer)

Bryan

Plowed Picture

2008-05-21T09:40:00.002-05:00

(more to come)

I wonder where all the ticks are living now?

Bryan