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Monthly Archives: May 2011

Paw Paw goes on a field trip

Yesterday I had the genuine pleasure of accompanying my granddaughter Kaitlyn on a field trip with her preschool class. All chaperones and preschool students met at the school at 8am and left around 8:30am. Our first stop was the Lincoln Children’s Museum, followed by lunch at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo ans zoo tour to follow. I had not been been to either.

The Lincoln Children’s Museum was fantastic. Kaitlyn had a blast. At first Kaitlyn was a bit apprehensive to really play, but let me explain why I think this was the case based on my observation. We, responsible adults, are constantly reinforcing the rules of “look but don’t touch” to our kids when we take them places. The Children’s Museum is designed to allow the children “hands on” learning and play. It is like a huge learning center disguised as a playground. So Kaitlyn’s apprehension slowly wore off the more she observed other kids touching and playing. We played with the water wheels, and real airplanes, and real miniaturized pizza restaurant, and lunar lander just to name a few. One of the highlights at the museum for us was painting Kaitlyn’s face. It was a collaborative effort by both of us.

Next stop was the Lincoln Children’s Zoo for lunch and a tour. We ate our lunches at one of the zoo picnic areas and then proceeded to walk around and view the animal exhibits. We saw an array of God’s creation in the zoo. We saw an otter, camels, wallaby’s, a leopard, birds, bats, and others. The highlights were feeding the goats in the petting zoo, and Kaitlyn getting to touch a live python snake.

Fun was definitely had by all, and Paw Paw recorded the trip in pictures seen here. The bus ride home was filled with many dozing field trippers. Including Kaitlyn and her Paw Paw.

 

Reflections of Mother’s Day

I will have to admit I am one of those people who tend to get cynical with days like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. I mean, why do we really need to focus on one day to celebrate our lover, or another for our mother, right? We should be appreciating them throughout the year. My mother passed away a couple years ago so Mother’s Day has some what of a bitter sweet tone in the years following her death. But I get real cynical when folks try to lump Valentine’s Day in with Mother’s Day by substituting the wife for mom. When someone asks “What are you going to do for your wife on Mother’s Day?”, my response in past years has been, “Why, she isn’t my mother?”. A bit cynical, right?

This year Mother’s Day was particularly special. My bide and I went to church to worship and fellowship with the local saints. We did a bit of yard work, and then traveled the twenty or so miles into Omaha to participate in the Starbucks Frappuccino happy hour, and pick up a few things at Walmart. I know, the phrase “the little things in life” is our life song. When we returned, our son Corey and his wife Sara, their daughters, our daughter Amanda and husband Reece, their daughters, our son Beau stopped by for a visit and to wish my bride a happy Mother’s Day. We had a wonderful day. We filled up the new kiddie pool for the granddaughters and Crysta, cooked some barbecue chicken, and visited for several hours. It was a glorious  and God blessed day spent with family. It was one of those days we will be able to point back, smile, and remember.

I know we should appreciate all of our days as blessed from God, but there are some days that stick out more than most of the others as indeed blessed. I believe this was one of those. It brings to mind one of my favorite contemporary worship songs.

Shout To The Lord

My Jesus, my Saviour
Lord there is none like You
All of my days I want to praise
The wonders of Your mighty love

My comfort, my shelter
Tower of refuge and strength
Let every breath, all that I am
Never cease to worship You

Shout to the Lord all the Earth, let us sing
Power and majesty, praise to the King
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar
At the sound of Your name

I sing for joy at the work of Your hand
Forever I’ll love You, forever I’ll stand
Nothing compares to the promise I have
In You

Soli, Deo, Gloria!

 
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Posted by on May 9, 2011 in Family, God, Mother's Day, worship

 

I’m back, and I’m packin’ an Android now.

Much has happened since my self-imposed hiatus from blogging. I had actually considered stopping completely for lack of time and effort. But most things you like and wish to engage in take some time and effort. I notice when I am contributing to the blogosphere my writing skills are bettered. Not only the writing, but my studying and researching skills are enhanced as well. It takes an effort to publish something truthful and right.

First, I’d like to thank my spiritual brother Jacob for encouraging me to blog again. Rawk On Jacob!

One thing in my life that has changed is my smart phone. I have cast off the iPhone crutches to pursue a more technologically gifted side iron. The weapon of vast reward is my new Motorola Atrix Andriod powered phone with a very powerful  1GHz Dual Core processor. AT&T brags that it is the “world’s most powerful smart phone “. I am not certain of this but it does do multi-tasking well and the HD videos fly, especially when connected to a WiFi network.

the world’s most powerful smart phone

One of the first apps I downloaded is the YouVersion Bible software. The app is free for Android and has 50+ reading plans for reading through the bible. I even use this app during church sometimes.

Note to pastors: If you see me keying with my phone during your sermon, believe me, I am not texting John MacArthur with your scriptural insight. I am using it to follow along and maybe, just maybe, taking notes.

The YouVersion app easily lets me search for related scripture within multiple bible translations. Of course my main translation staple is the ESV. I am finding that my favorite part of the app is the Bible reading plan. I am currently on Day 64 of my One Year Bible reading plan. Having the tool has helped me to be more disciplined about reading the scripture daily since I have my phone with me at all times. Color me geek.

There is also a great WordPress blogging app I have downloaded for free. I may even begin to utilize that tool to help in my quest to start blogging again, and more frequently.

BTW – The picture above is of my lovely bride holding my actual Atrix phone. The phone is displaying my last posting via the WordPress app. My lovely bride loves her Atrix too. Yep, she had it first. 🙂

This is enough for my first blog in over 6 months. Lord willing, I will be contributing more frequently. There has been some amazing music released in the last several months as well. I might even throw in some book reviews. Like that isn’t being done in the blogging world. 🙂

Rawk On!

 
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Posted by on May 6, 2011 in Android, Atrix, bible, Motorola, scripture, YouVersion