You made my day!

Thanks to all of you who read the adventures of the Creers'. A special thank-you for the lovely ladies who not only read but commented also. Its good to know that I am not entirely boring. We had a good time enjoying the snow on Saturday. After Eddie spent a couple of hours clearing the driveway and sidewalk we delighted in a hearty breakfast, bundled up, and headed out to the slopes for sledding for two hours. We had a blast! The McDaniels' joined us along with others we knew once out at the dike.

Oh Susanna!

We were driving home today from eating out after church and happened to have the radio on. While listening to people who had called in favorite verses we were quite surprised to hear that Susanna Beckman of Lindsborg KS had called in a verse in I John 4 . Now I checked and the Beckman blog says that she is 2. It is truly amazing what home schoolers are accomplishing these days. This 2 year old is at least able to use the telephone and communicate clearly on it, and is possibly reading the Bible regularly enough to have a favorite verse.

Spring Break

On Monday our dad and Joshua immediately set to

work fixing both the upstairs and downstairs sink.
Tuesday we children drove to Topeka to visit

the capitol. Here is Grace sitting in the state

library.
Our dad replaced the fan in the girl's room.
Grace and mommy planting potatoes. We also

planted, radishes, lettuce, spinach, broccoli,

cauliflower, carrots, and onions.
Even though this seems like a lot Saturday was

the big project.

Need I say more?

Grace didn't like our new look at all! So daddy

helped her feel better.

Discipline

I'm just starting to break out of some bad trends in my personal habits. I haven't been having my personal devotions and have missed many family morning devotions as a result of a lack of the discipline of early rising. There is a pattern in my job (I'm not making excuses) that challenge me in this respect. The musical each year causes me to work late which in turn causes difficulty in rising early. Not impossible, difficult. The last 4 days I have risen at the proper time and got myself and my family started with God. I'm looking for many more days like this and also looking forward to victory during the musical next year.

New Fan

I'm so excited! Having not had a fan for about a year, Daddy finally got us one on spring break. It's really nice, it has a pretty feminine globe, a nice bring light bulb, and nice long cords so I can reach them. Michaela likes it too but she doesn't say so.(I don't know why.) Oh well!

Over&Out

GRACE

David Copperfield

If any of you have ever read David Copperfield, I readily commend you. Yet, I would be more impressed if you read it and enjoyed it. Typically, I wouldn't have read David Copperfield. The book itself is rather daunting with 870 pages. But it was a school assignment, so there was no option. I began the book enthusiastically but suddenly discovered that the book was slow. The story seemed to cover every single day in his life. I couldn't believe it! Now many people out there seem to consider this as Charles Dickens greatest work. I am not one of them. I have decided to simply stick to "A Christmas Carol". But I won't discourage you completely. As Michaela said after reading it. "It's a good story, I just wish it was a little shorter." My advice to you is, read the abridged version (if it won't bother your conscience).

Looking Back . . .

Looking back on our Good News Club (which is almost over) brings back good memories. We started out with three regular girls. Then, they became enthusiastic about inviting their friends and now we have eight girls (and no boys). Many positive things have happened six girls have accepted Christ, and they all are beginning to learn more about the Bible. We thank God for each one.

More Spring Break news

Besides a driving permit for Joshua, we also accomplished a few work projects around here. We prepared our garden plot with tilling, seed, and mulch. In addition to that we cleaned out the garage our annual spring project. Eddie also repaired and replaced bathroom faucets and a ceiling fan in the girls room. Our one big project was taking up the carpet in the living room area. Michaela and Joshua also managed to fit in going to the girls' junior college basketball championship game that same evening. All in all it was very encouraging break time that had its beginnings with a get away trip for Eddie and I to the Kansas City area for an enjoyable date time as well as listening to the award winning Harmonic C's at the spring music festival. Any and all who read this please feel free to comment as it would be encouraging for me. In the several times that I have blogged I have yet received any comment or response which makes me think that I am terribly boring or that no one reads these.

My Exciting News

My exciting news about Spring Break is that on Wednesday I got my Learner Permit for driving. I will admit I had not passed it the other two times I had attempted (which is another story), so I was a bit nervous. Fortunately, God assisted me and I passed missing four questions. Now I just have to start driving lessons.

The rest of the story

You know I've found out when I'm nervous or in trouble I pray a lot. This is what I was doing at 6:30 am driving down the road to Topeka on Tuesday. I prayed until my nerves calmed down and then as we were getting close to Topeka I prayed some more because big cities make me jumpy. Anyway I told my mom, "we went right to our exit, right to the capitol, right to a parking space, and right to the correct office." You can't get much better than that. Watching the House of Representatives was my favorite part because I got to see part of how Kansas laws are made. It was quite an honor. Since it was St. Patrick's Day they had a man play the bagpipes at the beginning. Then later two ladies who had different ideas about a bill were able to sit down and talk to each other cordially without any reference to it. The trip went well and God did the driving.

I'm a Little Nervous

Our children left today on their first road trip without the parents. (That is not the reason for the title of this blog) They are pages for our state representative Deena Horst. We fed them, gave them the cell phone and a credit card. What caused my concern is that just before leaving for Topeka Michaela asked "Now which one is I-70?" Be looking for updates later about their day at the capital.

I Almost Blew It

In my previous post I said that the trip to Kansas City with my quarter was going to be a date as well with my lovely wife Velda. On Friday I hadn't planned anything yet and I was going to be working late. I called Velda and asked her to take care of some of the details which showed how oblivious I was to her schedule. She graciously did this and asked about the hotel. I suggested the Motel 6 (They'll keep the light on for us) and to internet search for free attractions in Kansas City. Are you starting to get an idea of the bent (flaw?) of my personality? She still graciously accepted this as well. I came home for supper and noticed that Velda was really dragging physically and possibly emotionally from her normal day, let alone the extra I put on her for our "date". I encouraged her to press on and went back to school and worked to 11pm. When I got home I noticed some things she had tried to do but nothing really was done. I went to bed thinking she would finish in the morning. The next morning, during my quiet time, God revealed to me my egregious error. I promptly made a reservation at the Hyatt and found things to do in Kansas City that cost money and would interest both of us. When we met for family devotions I apologized and told her everything had been taken care of for our date. What a God we have that he would take the time to guide me through something seemingly as insignificant as a date when He has a universe to keep running. And what a wonderful woman He has given to me.

Picture this...

Every year we sing in a mass Kansas homeschool choir directed by Mr. Litke. Our Salina choir carpooled to Newton to go and sing with our mass choir. There are five boys and two girls in the van who will remain unnamed. On our way down one of the boys in the back pulled out his cellphone and started singing along with a song on it. Soon all the boys minus one are singing along with it too. As I turn to the other girl I say, "I cannot believe this!" They are singing My Lovely Cheeseburger from Veggie Tales! Also the boy who started says it's his life song. So me and the other girl are cracking up as on the way home they keep singing Veggie Tales songs. I ask the boy who has the phone, "How many do you have on there.?

"Um... 21.

Grand Champions

For the purpose of this year's musical, " The Music Man", I formed a barbershop quartet. This quartet is called the Harmonic C's and is the 7th of such name since I have been teaching at Salina South. Some local barbershop enthusiasts saw these guys and encouraged them to enter in a competition at Olathe East High School in Kansas City. There were 65 quartets ranging from 7th graders through high school. My quartet not only won the senior boys division but was the top quartet overall. There were 4 judges in the preliminary round and 8 in the finals. All 12 judges scores count towards the final possible score of 1200. My quartet scored a whopping 1,128 points. That is an average of 94 points from each judge. The members of the quartet are Tenor Bobby Wearing (Sr.), Lead John Snyder (Jr.), Bass Ryan Wofford (Sr.) and Baritone Charlie Fiorillo (Jr.). We will be returning to Kansas City to perform in the Heart of America Spring Concert this Saturday, March 14, 2009. I have been so busy lately with school that I'm taking Velda to Kansas City to spend the day as a date before the evening performance. We will spend the night and come back Sunday morning. An added bonus is that when we return to Salina, we will be starting Spring Break for both my school and our home school as well. There won't be any clips of the performance or awards because for one reason, the clips have to be exceptionally large to be of any quality. Secondly, posting the performance of the boys singing the song is an infringement of copyright. Feel free to stop by the house and watch my DVD.

More Museum Pictures

I'm a little behind on my blogging so here are some more pictures. A family of skunks.

Two grizzlies .
The fawn on the right has experienced a genetic combination that accounts for the white splotches. Sadly, it rarely lives to adulthood because it can't camouflage.

A pack of hyenas converging on a zebra and her foal.

Two lions battling with a cape buffalo and obviously losing. One groans in agony from being stabbed while the other is in the process of being trampled.

Museum Pictures

Obviously my sister has left me the task of displaying the pictures of all the "dead stuffed animals." Yet, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Would you want a nose like that?The Jaguar waves his greetings from South America.A moose proudly displays his antlers as well as his nose.

A cougar savagely attacking a pronghorn (sometimes mistaken as an antelope).

Sloth bears serenely pose in the jungles of Asia.

Late Birthday Present (two of them)

I like to give my brother practical gifts that he can use on a regular basis. So for his birthday my present was two nice collared shirts which to my surprise he was glad to see. He said, "I have been wanting to get some new shirts because I was running out." This was a much more grateful speech than last year when I gave him three shirts and two pairs of pants. He was rather disappointed but obviously has matured since then. He will get used to it as the years continue. His second present was a trip to the zoo with the Beckmans and the Kroekers. He took a lot of pictures of dead stuffed animals in the museum part except for the hippo which was not dead but plastic. I took the video above of the snake charmer who was made out of plastic as we'll but still talked and begged for coins for his salary. We had a perfect 74 degree day and Joshua, Kyle and I were always the last ones in line because we read every single plaque. The kangaroos disappointed me once again by not getting up at all let alone hopping. One looked like he was about to rise from his prostrate state but simply rolled over on the other side. The museum was amazing with all the continents shown.

Shopping

Today me and Mommy ( yes I know it's bad grammar,) went shopping at Bargain Basket. We got a Spring church dress, ( which I will model in.) and spring and summer church shoes. And Mommy got a Spring church outfit. And we got Michaela a dressy casual skirt and shirt. It's was lots of fun.

Estatic!

My father and I are the main amateur bird watchers of the family. We have out: two bird seed feeders(with different seed), one suet feeder, one bird bath, and two bird houses. Definitely, my favorite time to watch birds is winter. This is when all the slightly unpreferrable birds such as starlings and grackles leave, and all the fun birds come through. One of my favorites is the chickadee. Once when there was an especially fat chickadee at our feeder regularlly I named him Chub-Chub the Chickadee. Anyway, we haven't seen any all winter so you can imagine my disappointment and bewilderment. Then on Sunday while eating dinner, I saw a chickadee. I yelled and ran to the kitchen window. My dad upon hearing me yelled and followed me. Then we watched with immense pleasure as a pair of chickadees ate from our suet. Now I can die in peace, Amen.