Charades

Last Thursday, we had a game of charades. It was mainly Michaela and I. Daddy did things like up (the movie) cars(also the movie), Joshua did Chariots of Fire. I did the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Which Joshua guessed before I had even started. Then for the grand finale, the kids acted out the Good Samaritan which was a school project. Joshua was the Israelite, Michaela was the robbers, the Pharisee, and the Levite. And I was the Good Samaritan! Unfortunately, this Israelite was very unwilling to receive help. Since I couldn't lift Joshua I was trying to get him to move; then Michaela said I should bind up his wounds first. It was then that I discovered Joshua's ticklish spot. On me touching it, Joshua immediately smacked my hand, which resulted in me hitting him and so on and so forth. In the end I guess it kind of turned out as a disaster but we had fun!

Over&Out(I haven't used that in a long time wonder why)

GRACE

Are you Hungry?

Lately I've been noticing that this is a time in my life when something amazing is happening. For the past month God has been giving me spiritual food like crazy. For instance, for graduation I received a Christian devotional called "Streams in the Desert." The first Sunday of January I started it and was determined to go through the whole year with it. Well in church our pastor ends his sermon with the verse Isaiah 35:6 which last words are streams in the desert. So apparently God wants to use this verse and the devotional in my life.

Also reading Amazing Grace about William Wilberforce has been amazing. He was incredible. But not only do I get to learn about him but also about other Godly characters who were his friends. I really like the determinedly tenacious Granville Sharp. He was an accomplished musician, Christian, and lawyer and often signed his name G#. This guy could play two flutes at once!

Then for my Christian online college "Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life" is recommended. This book is packed with 12 essential disciplines that all Christians should practice along with practical examples and steps of how to implement them. Also my goal is to finish the biography of Hudson Taylor sometime this year. He particularly struck me with how much he would sacrifice for the advancement of God's kingdom. At one point in China he was only living on $10 a month! Also while in London he only ate twice a day and literally only bread and water.

One Christian man said if he were stranded on a desert island with only one book of the Bible to read he would want Romans. That's the book I started this morning in prayertime. Last but not least my Mom and I are starting the Perspectives class which is an intensive 15 week course about world missions and how Christians should be acting about them. My old partner in crime Ethan Greene will be attending this class with us as well and will be riding with us. With all this feeding of my spirit it will be exciting to see how God will use me to teach the lessons I'm learning and what growth will occur. Am I hungry? Oh yeah!

Christmas Letter

Finally, we have typed and printed our Christmas Letter. I read and thought it was very good. But I will note that I don't think teasing Joshua is one of my hobbies. I loved the pictures of the kids. Though I 'm not quite sure when mine was taken but it wasn't recent sense I'm wearing sunglasses. For once, Joshua is looking at the camera and smiling a combination difficult to find. And I think Michaela's picture is quite her.

Love,

GRACE

Shopping Surprises

Now I normally don't go shopping, but I needed some shorts. So I went with the rest of my family to Goodwill. Since I didn't see any shorts, I moved on to the pants sections. There to my great joy I discovered BDU pants (my favorite) in my size. It ended up that I walked away from the store with four BDU pants. One of the pair are desert camouflage, that is an added bonus. Hopefully I won't have to shopping for a long time.

At a Loss for Words

I was able to attend my sons basketball game today. I can't find the words to describe the game. They lost 60-something to 20-something. Mercifully the scoreboard in the gym was not working. My wife is the head coach so this is really going to challenge my abilities of the English language. (I paused a few minutes before typing this sentence. I can't call it writer's block because I know what I want to say.) Let me jump to the encouraging fact that Joshua said (genuinely) that he had fun today. That is the bottom line. If they aren't having fun, then something is wrong. After all, basketball is a sport and the word sport is a synonym for having fun. Wow, I'm very relieved that this entry is over.

Anniversary!

Hello all you faithful(and unfaithful) blog readers. I have an important, exciting, message. The Kansas Creers Home on the Range blog has now been going for one year. Actually we started on December 18, 2009 so a few days into our year. I don't know what I was doing on December 18 but it wasn't blogging which would have been the proper thing to do on our anniversary. But this is a surprise anniversary so it doesn't matter. We have all immensely enjoyed blogging(most of the time) and have now gotten back into the routine of blogging once a week(sometimes).

Games, Games and more Games

This title describes our New Years Eve event with the Greene family and several other friends. We played into the early morning including charades, pictionary, apples to apples, and a crude form of the game cranium just to name a few. Of course the evening included delicious food, and conversation for all. We enjoyed ourselves and caught up on sleep the next day or should I say later on New Years Day. May God bless all with a truly prosperous year in the Lord.

You Gotta Be Kidding

The day was going fine until my nalgene-type water bottle slipped from by backpack and fell to the ground. It cracked and started leaking water! These lexan bottles are supposed to be indestructible. I heard stories of people dropping them multistory buildings and they didn't break. This one dropped from a few inches higher than my waist. This was an older bottle and still had a large opening from which it is hard to drink. Joshua and I have splash guards to remedy the problem. So I get a spare bottle we have and find that the industry must not have a standard for the size of openings because the spare bottle's opening is too large for the splashguard to fit. All things considered, we are truly blessed and hope you have God's blessings on your new year.

Drivers License

Today I drove for the first time without someone over 21. I got my drivers license yesterday, and I decided to make sure it worked. Of course at the moment my license consists of a slip of paper, but it works. Well Grace and I returned safely from the first trip, and hopefully that will continue to occur.

A Simple Christmas (part 2)

Once there was a girl named Mary,

She was engaged to Joseph and going to marry.

God sent the angle Gabriel,

He appeared and said Hail!

You shall conceive of the Holy Spirit,

Just as Isaiah prophesied about it.

Mary said, I am the Lord's handmaid,

May it come to pass with His aid.

Then Caesar Augustus sent out a decree,

"Everyone shall pay taxes to me!"

Joseph with Mary went to his home town Bethlehem,

But when they got to the town there was no room for them.

They were forced to stay in a stable,

Where Mary gave birth to Immanuel,

Shepherds kept their fields at night,

Then angles appeared in heavenly light.

"Peace on earth good will to men!

Christ is born in Bethlehem."

The shepherds said" let us go see this thing,

And worship our God and King."

They rushed to the stable,

And knelt before the makeshift cradle.

Three wise men journeyed from afar,

Following yonder star.

They found Jesus whom they longed to behold,

And offered Him frankincense, myrrh, and gold.