Little Madeline

I know many of you would love to see Madeline too. Here is her first film debut.

Sabbatical Sunbathing

We wanted to let everyone know how we were doing on our sabbatical, so we made this little clip down at my parent's farm. Enjoy.

Book Review: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

This classic by Stephen Covey is a wothwile read. It makes practical "mission and purpose" books meaningful. Covey takes the time to walk the reader through the individual and corporate implications of determining your approach to life. My favorite quote is, "When we examine ourselves, we find there are ineffective scripts that are unworthy of us. Habits and patterns that are not who we want to be." One more reason to be on sabbatical. To discover and deal with ineffective scripts and habits that are less than what God wants for me. This book is a must read for anyone desiring to to move to the next self-leadership level.

Book Review: How Good is Good Enough

Preacher Andy Stanley wrote a short book to help people interested in eternal life evaluate the theories of, "good people go to heaven." He presents that everyone kind of thinks they are good enough and that others aren't (a relative point of view) and that a good God would give some standard to determine what was good enough, if that was the method he would use to allow people into heaven. Both arguments fall apart logically and Stanley offers a third alternative, "God isn't fair, he's merciful and gracious." If God were fair, we'd go to hell. Thanks be to God he does forgive.

Throwin' to the Fish

I will remember to take my camera for our adventure tomorrow. I wish I had had it again today. I took the kids to the Neosho National Fish Hatchery. It's the oldest federal hatchery in the nation. And the boys loved it. There were rainbow trout everywhere. We were given some food to feed to the fish. Everytime the boys threw in a few pellets, the fish went wild. Silas got the idea from his older brother to throw half of his cup in at one fell swoop. The fish went crazy and the boys squeeled with glee. What a day!

We're surrounded!!

Sarah has been working with my father to finish up her hours for nursing this year. So, I do school with Isaac in the morning while Silas entertains Madeline and then we go on an adventure. Missouri has developed some amazing parks. One of them is Prarie State Park, home of harriers, 200 Plains Bison, Rocky Mt. Elk, a saddly dwindling flock of Prarie Chickens (from 67 down to 6 in 15 years), and many other wonderful plants and animals. I have often loved visiting this place.
On this particular trip, the ranger said the buffalo were on the road just north of the center and I should take the kids to see them, "stay in the car though." No worries there. As we neared the animals who were on both sides of the road, we saw calves nursing their mothers. I was keeping my eyes out for the bull, when just as we were passing through the herd (about 25 animals in this herd) he stepped out onto the road, walked halfway across and stopped. He turned his head and looked at me. At that moment, a cow came up out of the ditch where she had been drinking and walked behind us. A cow, about five feet from my window looked into our car. The band of nursing mothers were on the right. We were surrounded.
After the bull got his full gaze, he sauntered into the prarie and we continued on our way. What an amazing gift from God to see these good friends so close and with such majesty.
NOTE: I didn't have our camera, the picture above looks an awful lot like the bull we saw.

Book Review: The Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family

Patrick Lencioni has written an incredibly interesting and practical guide for every family. This is my top read so far. It's a quick, fascinating story about a woman on the search for some sanity in her family's busy lifestyle. If you're going to buy a book this year, wether you're single, have kids, or retired, buy this book!