We're Moving!

Finally, we're moving!

It's still just two miles down the road, just two miles in a different direction.  We're moving small stuff tonight and big stuff tomorrow (Wednesday).  If you can help Wednesday, let us know!

Thank you for all your prayers!

Jared & Shannon

Moving On

All,

We couldn't come to a mutual agreement with our sellers.  Though we are bitterly disappointed, we are actively planning our next step.

1.  As of right now, we should be able to stay in our home on Russell through the weekend, perhaps a little longer.
2.  We'll find a storage unit to store our stuff on early next week and we'll need help when that happens.
3.  We'll take our family to Platte City to live with my folks until we find a home in Basehor/Piper/Bonner.

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement.  The Lord is good and he'll take care of us.

Things are changing by the hour; we'll keep you informed as best we can.

Jared & Shannon

Perry Ellis Commits to Kansas

Perry Ellis, a 6-8 forward and one of the most highly touted high schools players from the state of Kansas in years, picked KU this afternoon.

This isn't a huge surprise but he was actively recruited by K-State, Kentucky, and his hometown Wichita State.

Random Thoughts 9/21/11

• You might see this on your doorstep in about six weeks: angry bird costumes!
• KCMO schools lost their accreditation and now other schools in the metro are fretting over whether those students will begin to flood their districts.  It's a good day to be homeschooled in KC.
• The Pac-12 says no for now, sorry Oklahoma.  But this may be excellent news for Big 12… maybe…
• Do Oklahoma State fans care that they are don't appear to have any say in what happens to their school?  The national discussion is if the Sooners decide to stay or go, Oklahoma State is following them.  That seems kind of humiliating that the Cowboys don't have a noticeable voice.
• If you're in our Pick-a-Loser contest, you can change your pick during the week.  If you send me a pick on Tuesday and then change it Saturday night, that's okay.
• I'll say it again, if Mizzou can leave and go to the SEC, then go.  I'd rather the Big 12 stay together and expand, but…
• We looked at some other houses again for comparison-sake last night.  Meh…  I'm still eager for the house on Hubbard Road to work out.  I'm sure it will eventually.
• There were two more airshow accidents this last week, adding to a tragic summer.  First the Reno Air Races had a brutal crash of a modified P-51 that hit the crowd of spectators, killing 11 and injuring dozens.  Then a 1950's T-28 crashed at a West Virginia airshow killing the pilot in a fiery explosion.
• Today is the 74th anniversary of the publication of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.  My older two boys are definitely reading that book this year before the first movie comes out a year from this Christmas.
• You hate to kick someone out of the church, but… when he's a groundhog the size of a large cat living under the church sidewalk, we have to do what we have to do.  This guy got relocated to the country this afternoon:

Hey, Texas…

I was saving this until yet another team left the Big 12 because they'd rather be anywhere than in the same conference as Texas.  But since the Pac-12 slapped down the Longhorns, et al., last night, this seems as good a time as any…

Sorry Texas, it's not us, it's you.

Random Thoughts 9/20/11

• The local sports radio guys have mostly abandoned the Chiefs for this season, instead hoping that Kansas City will get a top pick in the draft and take Andrew Luck.  I think they're right.  Some of the other poor teams, such as St. Louis and Carolina, have already drafted franchise quarterbacks, so if KC can land one of the top two or three spots, they should be in position to take a potential franchise quarterback like Luck.
• It's about impossible to track the daily rise and fall of the Big 12.  I've been hoping that OU is bluffing in an effort to put Texas in its place, which I'm all for.  There were more rumors of Mizzou leaving for the SEC again today but my primary beef with that is that I don't like change.  Maybe the Big 12 and Big East remnants will merge…
• It's almost as hard to figure out when we'll move.  We thought is was last week for sure and then we thought it was Monday for sure… to the point of packing our dishes and moving stuff out onto the porch and front yard…  But here we are still waiting.  It's okay, though, God is taking care of us and life is still good.  We're just easily frustrated sometimes.
• My fantasy football team is 2-0, which sounds great considering how I'd struggled last year.  But my big draft-day move was to trade two picks to move up and draft Arian Foster from Houston.  That has been a huge mistake so far since Foster hasn't even played for me yet.  Stupid hamstring!
• Oklahoma wants the conference commissioner gone along with the Longhorn network to preserve the Big 12.  I'm okay with that.
• I think we have a great theme for church camp next year… more on that later.

In My Seat

From Dustin:  "…there are times when I see something that I think epitomizes who I am or what I believe, and I feel compelled to share it.  For me, this is one of those rare videos."

Alphapointe and iPads

Here's a video showing Alphapointe's Tech Camp for blind kids.  This is where Dustin works and one of his friends and coworkers, Tommy Herron, is in this video.  The kids use iPads to read, surf the internet, play games, and enjoy themselves.  It's a heartwarming video.

Poor Chiefs

The world seems a aflutter that the Chiefs look horrible again.  Locals, though frustrated, are not shocked.

ESPN writer Gregg Easterbrook writes, "Stretching back to last season, Kansas City has lost three straight home games, by a combined 102-24," and "Since going a combined 23-9 in the 2010 regular season and earning home playoffs berths, the Atlanta Falcons and Kansas City Chiefs are a combined 0-4 and have been outscored 149-47."

Thanks for rubbing it in.

At least something looked good.

The experts in sports fashion point out however that the game last Sunday was perhaps the best looking contest, uniform-wise.  The Chiefs have a classic uniform that is regularly ranked as one of the best looking uniforms in the league.  The Bills on the other hand have had one of the ugliest uniforms but this season introduced a throwback uniform which is much simpler and better looking.

Random Thoughts 9/12/11

• Chiefs safety Eric Berry is out for the year.  Nuts.  Add that to Moeaki's injury and the brutal schedule and this is ruining the year that I was going to try to make my boys into football fans.
• The Big 12 is still falling apart.  It got quiet for a few days but the buzz today is all about Oklahoma threatening to apply to the Pac-12 and take Oklahoma State with them.  If this threat is for real, then thanks a lot for being part of the solution, Oklahoma.  Hopefully, it's just a negotiating tactic against Texas.
  
• We finally started home school with all four boys this morning.  I helped Graham with his handwriting a little and Shannon said the older boys worked until early afternoon.  I'm sure they're not thrilled to be back with the old routine.
• I'm glad I missed most of the Chiefs game.  I smartly scheduled a counseling session after lunch, otherwise I would have needed the counseling.  By the time I got home the game was out of hand so I took advantage of my one free afternoon of DirecTV's Sunday Ticket to peruse the other games.
  
• Perverts Academics on a "pedophilia-friendly" scientific symposium from distinguished schools like Johns Hopkins and Harvard were recently advocating the normalization of adult sex with children.  You'd think this wouldn't get anywhere but pedophiles are following the path blazed by homosexuals to achieve "normal" status in our culture.  There's already a humorous pedophile character on the show "Family Guy."  I'm sure there's more of this moral filth yet to come.
• Someone asked so let me clarify:  I'm generally for the peace-thru-strength philosophy for foreign affairs.  Appeasement and signs of weakness are a recipe for disaster historically and ignore what the Bible teaches about a fallen human nature.  But that doesn't make me pro-war.  As a Christian, I hate to see death and destruction even when it's justifiable.  I'm for a strong American military but will always be reluctant to see them use force and saddened by it even when it's absolutely necessary to support it politically.  Being pro-military doesn't mean you delight in death and destruction.

Flight 77 Simulation

Here's one for the conspiracy theorists to chew on.  Of course if hundreds of witnesses can't convince these people that a plane hit the Pentagon then these details won't make a difference.

Stop Splashing

Please forgive the subject matter; it's for science.  Consider it a public health warning.

Our Military 10 Years After 9/11

Cleaning Out The Junk

We had help Monday from friends (Teri and George) cleaning out our garage. We'll be moving soon and we don't want to leave behind junk for the new family to deal with. Thanks for the help, guys!

Miss Devine

Random Thoughts 9/3/11

• I'm bothered by how many people think they can order up a version of Christianity that suits them.  Not too offensive, not too demanding, not too time-consuming or bothersome, open-ended, all-inclusive, non-threatening, permissive and watered-down.  If it's not very Biblical, then ditch the Bible!  Well I've got news for you.  That thing you're doing… it's not really Christianity anymore.  So be honest with yourself.  You're not a Christ-follower and you don't care to be; you'd rather call the shots as you see them.  So go ahead and call yourself something else; I know that I would rather avoid the public confusion between us.
• Poor Tony Moeaki, the Chiefs' tight end, is out for the year with an injured knee.  A couple of people in our fantasy drafts this year drafted him, probably just for sentimental reasons rather than actual value.  It's too bad; the Chiefs could have used him and his name is fun to say. 
• Yet more evidence here that global temperature is mostly determined by the sun and not by human activity.  Of course, man-made global warming fits the preconceived notions of anti-capitalists and radical environmentalists.  Sorry guys, but those crazy old communists are STILL wrong.
• The Big 12 is unraveling fast, now Oklahoma sounds like they would consider leaving.  Add to that the wandering eyes of Missouri and the three schools that have already left or are leaving…  Ugh.  This could get ugly with no major Midwest conference.  I'm surprised that the distances involved don't play a larger factor.  Do these schools really want to send their teams on 3000-mile round trips for every away game in every sport?
• Finally the heat is gone.  I'm so ready for fall weather, jackets, bonfires, pumpkins, and football.
• Here's a nice brief guide to OS X Lion, the latest version of Mac's operating software.  Mac users should at least glance at this.
• My perfect fantasy football league would have an auction draft and a limited keeper system.  Neither of those traits are good for the league where I'm commissioner but I like them both.  The auction-style draft rewards a deep knowledge of the players and your scoring system.   A limited keeper provides a little continuity but still gives everybody a chance each year.  The system I used to employ gave each team one true keeper from the previous year and two "restricted free-agents."  Anybody could draft these two RFA's, but they came with a penalty, i.e. the new owner had to pay a draft pick to the old owner two rounds later.

Barbecue Potluck & Watch Party

Barbecue Potluck & Watch Party, 9/18:

We are having a barbecue potluck lunch after Sunday School at noon Sunday on September 18, when the Chiefs play at Detroit.  We'll have the game on our 180-inch (15-ft) screen and lots of food.  Bring something barbecue or something that goes with barbecue.

The members of our fantasy football league are invited to church that day and to this potluck.

Random Thoughts 9/1/11

How many women actually saw this sign?

• Can't believe it's already September.
• We had our fantasy football draft Tuesday night and went great.  We take a big conference room at the local Dave & Busters and have thirty teams divided between three simultaneous drafts.  There's food and draft boards and trophies and door prizes.  We had a lot of fun.
• The NFL will once again be promoting breast cancer awareness in October by having it's players where pink shoes and gloves and other pink equipment.  I'm absolutely anti-cancer, but the pink on the uniforms has got to go; it's an eyesore.  A full month of pink accessories also seems like it's pandering to the elusive female audience for football.  Breast cancer kills about the same or fewer people than colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, or prostate cancer but breast cancer awareness is conspicuously front-and-center in a sport trying to improve its female audience.  There comes a point where that kind of pandering starts to look bad and actually detracts from a good cause.
• We sold our house.  It's all but done.  Now we're getting the details finished on the house a couple of miles up the street.  It's crazy to think that in a few weeks I won't live here anymore; we love this house.
• But the new house has four bathrooms.
• Sciatica.  Yeah that's fun.  I skipped basketball last night because of that.
• Goodbye, Texas A&M.  I don't like Texas either but you didn't have to take your ball and go home.  And on that note, if the Big 12 doesn't announce some huge move toward expansion, then the conference is toast.  C'mon Notre Dame and BYU.
• I made a comment in Bible study last night about having voted for theologically-liberal Christians for public office (in the context of whether I'd vote for a Mormon, in the larger context of caring about Biblical truth).  Let me clarify by way of being even more cynical:  I've voted for politicians who've at least attended theologically-liberal churches.  I have no idea if these politicians knew Christ or believed in the Resurrection or just know what Christ-followers want to hear.  I only wish that every politician who called himself "Christian" was actually a Bible-believing follower of Jesus.
• And to answer the question, if I'm choosing between a Mormon and a secular humanist, I'll take the Mormon every time.  The same goes for the self-acclaimed "Christians" who seek public office.  Even a politician who is a shallow and/or inconsistent believer is better than one who's philosophically against Christianity.