Our family just finished watching the most incredible movie tonight. Netflix, our movie rental place delivered it to 
our mailbox today. All of us have been waiting for this one to arrive so we plopped it right in. Sorry for the commercial. The movie is “August Rush“. It is not my typical genre, but it is going to be one of my all time favorites. Usually the movies I like have to be filled with adrenaline and good dose of testosterone. But this movie appealed dramatically to my passion for music. If you haven’t seen it, I would definitely recommend. It is rated PG and would appeal to all family members. It is sure to be in our DVD library soon. I have provided one my favorite scenes for the movie. My favorite scene is the ending but I won’t spoil that for you. Check out the short clip below.
Category Archives: Personal
August Rush
Of hummingbirds and bees
This past Labor Day weekend my lovely wife and I took a trip south. Specifically to Hampton, Georgia and 
then Chattanooga, Tennessee. We left Wahoo, Nebraska around 1am and drove 18 hours in shifts down to Georgia to visit my cousin Judy and her husband Howard (also know by family as Ole Weird). After a day or so of visiting in Georgia we headed back north to Chattanooga.
Our visit with Judy and Howard in Georgia was a wonderful visit filled with late night conversation, honey harvesting, and good old Southern hospitality. During our family reunion my wife developed an interest in bee keeping thanks to “Ole Weird” who is an avid bee keeper. So needless to say she was greatly excited at the prospect of helping him harvest some honey from his bees. I will let her share her experiences of that event from her blog.
Prior to Robin and Howard donning their bee suits to pillage the bee honey, we were sitting on their back deck talking and something very fascinating transpired. Howard and Judy have a couple of hummingbird feeders hanging from rafters above their deck. While we were talking several hummingbirds began to hover around the feeders. They were chasing each other off to get to the feeders and making quite a racket. I was amazed at how close they were getting to us. Pretty soon several more hummingbirds showed up and we had a nice buzzing and commotion going on. I got my digital camera out and tried to take some still photos. The birds were zigging and zagging in and out so much it was hard to get a still photo. So I got the idea to set my camera to video and recorded the video below. I held the camera while they basically swarmed in and out and around the deck. I only captured them in video for a little over a minute but you can hear them chirping and buzzing throughout it.
I was also amazed at God’s creation in the hummingbird itself. Here are a couple of things I have since learned about hummingbirds. Did you know that the hummingbird is the only group in the bird family that can fly backwards? The wings of the hummingbird will beat 15 to 80 times per second depending on the species. That is so amazing to me.
Later in the week I will post something about the visit with our daughter Amanda, her husband Reece, and our adorable granddaughters in Chattanooga.
I’ve got a fever and the only prescription is ….
If you’ve ever seen the Saturday Night Live skit with Christopher Walken and Will Ferrell then you know how 
to finish the posting title. For the most part I am an old school rocker. Now don’t think that I don’t keep current with the music being released today, such as it is. But I love the classic rock songs with the crunching guitars, pounding drums, thumbing bass, and yes COWBELL. So when I was looking to purchase some recording software for my daughter and I to record our music, I started my search for an authentic cowbell. My wife and I have scoured many Goodwill stores, thrift stores, and antique shops to no avail. I had all but given up and was contemplating just purchasing one from an online music store. But yesterday my wonderful wife came by the office to get something out of the car I was driving, and she said that she had a surprise for me. She had found an honest to goodness cowbell at the local Goodwill store. Woo Hoo!!
Tonight I am Googling songs with cowbell. I am amazed at just how many there are. The obvious one is Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear The Reaper”, and Mountain’s “Mississippi Queen”. But can any of my loyal blog readers name any more of your favorites or not your favorites. Just name any song that the only prescription for it is MORE COWBELL!!
For your viewing pleasure, check out the classic SNL skit below.
You Say It’s Your Birthday? It’s His Birthday Too, Yeah!
Hi there! Reallyrobins here. I have hijacked barrydean4christ in order to bring this important message!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BARRY!!! Yep, the BIG 49!! 
I’m just saying…
I now return control back to Barry.
Blogging from Cincinnati
I just wanted to post a small update. This weekend we are in Cincinnati, Ohio for the Schneider family 
reunion. Yesterday we met with some family I haven’t seen in years and Robin has never met. We had a nice dinner at the hotel last night and visited with my cousin Judy and her husband Howard (nicknamed Ole Weird). Howard raises bees for a hobby and he had some interesting information about the nature of bees. My Rib was quite interested, so we may have some hives in our yard before long. I would suspect she will blog about it sometime soon. Today we went to Jungle Jim’s, which is a huge international market. We also drove downtown to the Ohio river so we could get some photos. Please pray for opportunities to present the gospel to those family members who are not believers, and pray for sweet fellowship with those who are believers. We are having a blessed time with family. All glory belongs to God. Soli Deo Gloria!
Where are those encouraging words?
I love this comic strip. If you don’t read it, it is a syndicated comic strip called “Baby Blues. Their son Hammie is such a riot. I have another strip featuring him coming up in a few days. I really had to Laugh Out Loud when I read this but it also prompted another thought
He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin. (Proverbs 13:3)
My beautiful wife, of sixteens years now, has been doing the Proverbs on her blog. After seeing the comic strip above I was reminded of the Proverbs. For years my wife and I have tried to instill in our children the habit of saying encouraging words to each other. Now I will admit that on more than a few occasions those exhorting words of “Now how encouraging was that?” have come back to haunt us when we have expressed our dislike of their activities. But for the most part all we have to do is clear our throat and they know exactly what should happen. Not saying it always happens, but they do know. Try to create those habits in your children as well. Also preach it to yourself. Guard those lips!
Grandmas, granddaughters, and fireflies
Yesterday, July 4th was a big day here in Nebraska. For further evidence just see the picture of our local
granddaughter Livy (short for Olivia) nestled up against Grandma after a fun filled 4th of July. Livy fought a surprising fight against Mr. Sandman but in the end the evidence speaks for itself. You can’t hear it but she is actually sleeping to the sound of neighborhood fireworks in the near distance.
Grandchildren are the crown of the aged.. (Proverbs 17:6)
Grandmas are pretty special too.
I have also included a video of something my sweet wife dearly loves to witness. The lighting of the fireflies across the lawn in the summertime. I shot this as we were sitting on our front porch. The video is a little grainy, but the fireflies can easily been seen.
Prayers have been answered – an update
Although we will miss her, my mother went home to be with Jesus Thursday 
morning May 22nd. She is absent from her worn out earthly body and now present with our Lord. I want to thank everyone for their prayers for our family. God is so faithful and I delight in His eternal righteousness. I just wanted to share a verse of hope for those who have ever exprienced the death of a loved one who is a believer.
1 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened, not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. 11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.
2 Corinthians 5:1-11
And one more verse found at the end of Psalm 16.
11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Holy Scripture speaks of this joy in the presence of the Lord and what is being prepared and waiting for us in heaven. If you have an unbelieving family member, please be steadfast in your prayer for them. May God draw them to Himself and grace them with the salvation only found in His Son Jesus Christ.
Mary Katherine Mauney Schneider: January 13th, 1940 – May 22nd, 2008
Prayer request for my mother
Here is a personal request going out to those who read my blog. My sister called me this morning with some awful news. Our mother collapsed and fell unconscious in her home sometime last night. She was discovered shortly after by a family friend, who called 911. She was taken to the local hospital in Ohio where they diagnosed her with pneumonia. She has since been life-flighted to a wonderful hospital in Cincinnati where they are treating her for among other things blood in her lungs. My mother’s body has been battling lung cancer for the past couple of years and she had been doing very well. Isn’t it ironic, lung cancer and she never smoked a day in her life? The latest news from the hospital this afternoon is that her doctor told my sister and her husband that percentages are against her recovering at this point. Please be in prayer for my mother. She is a believer in a sovereign God and she would tell you that she is in His hands. But also pray for my sister as she is not taking this new development well. Pray that she put her trust in the sovereignty of God as well.
Thank you.
Soli Deo Gloria.
Upon This Rawk 