More Snow

We had another 3 or 4 inches of snow today. Cassidy and I went out to make a snow man, but the snow didn't want to pack very good. So instead, we ended up making to giant snow battle ships. We had a great time!

History of Valentine's Day

School got canceled today, so I thought I would take moment to stick with a popular theme that I started last year. The theme centered around the idea of informing people of the histories regarding different holidays. Here is what I found out regarding today’s holiday, St. Valentine’s Day!

According to the History Channel’s website, History.Com, the holiday began as a commemoration of the death/burial of St. Valentine. As we have seen with other holidays, this was possibly due to help offset a pegan festival called Lupercalia. Lupercalia began on February 15th, and was the celebration for the Roman god of agriculture. After a goat and dog sacrifice, strips of meat were dipped in blood, and the people took to the streets slapping the meat on the crops and young women. The women believed it would make them more fertile in the coming year. At the end of the day, all the young girls would put their names in a big pot, and the men would draw names to see who they would be “paired” with for the next year. Of course, the Pope eventually deemed this system to be un-Christian, and it became illegal.

So who exactly was St. Valentine? One legend says he was a priest who secretly performed marriages for young men after they were temporarily outlawed by Emperor Claudius II who felt that single men made better soldiers. When St. Valentine was discovered, he was put to death. Other stories say St. Valentine was put to death for attempting to help Christians escape from Roman prisons. Some stories link him to writing letters to a lover in which he signed, “From your Valentine.”

The holiday found its way to Great Britain in the 1600’s and later to America in the 1700’s. According to the website, “The first commercial Valentine's Day greeting cards produced in the U.S. were created in the 1840s by Esther A. Howland.” Today, Valentine’s Day is second only to Christmas in the amount of cards sent to people.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Update on the Barking Dog

I finally made contact with the owner of the dog tonight. So far, I have knocked on his door several times, sent him a letter, and called the police. When he came to the door, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I was ready for an argument. To my surprise, he was very apologetic about the situation. I could tell, however, that from his standpoint, he wasn’t quite sure why it was bothering me as much as it is. I told him the dog was waking me up at about 5:00am. He said, “Well I get up at a quarter till 4:00. In the end, he told me that he was trying to get rid of the dog, and if I knew anyone who could give it a nice country home that he would give it to them. Hmmm, I wonder who wants a barking dog?

THANKS FOR THE COMMENTS

I want to thank the people (or person) who has been making comments to the post down a ways entitled "Extremely Swamped." If you have not already, scroll down and take a look at the comments. They are worth reading.

Insight Into Lonely Souls

I recently wrote a post that I have been hesitant to put up. Why? Well, it is a little depressing. I want people to see me as a positive person. Anyway, here it is. I hope I don’t get anyone down. So here it is:

Tonight I felt lonely. Maybe it was the cold. Maybe it was the situation. Maybe it was just life. It was just a lonely night. Here is how it all began.

A few weeks ago Amy and I decided that we needed to do something that was “ministry” minded. This goes quite well with the theme of our blog--Finding Our Place in Life. We have done a few things in the church, but nothing has ignited the passion that we have felt in the past. After hearing a sermon in which the preacher we basically, “try something to see if it works,” we decided once again to venture out into the “small group ministry.” A friend of Amy’s suggested we do a study with a popular book entitled, “Bad Women of the Bible.” As a man, it didn’t take long for me to realize this was really a women’s bible study. I decided to work from the sidelines, however, offering to make up the study guide, help Amy with questions, watch the kids, etc.

The first week Amy kept Callie at home, and I took Cassidy to church. Although I enjoyed getting to spend time with just me and Cassidy, it didn’t quite seem right. For whatever reason, we have not made a lot of close connections at church, and it was really apparent this particular evening. At the dinner before service, Cassidy and I ate by ourselves. I took her to class, then went into the sanctuary and sat by myself. I picked Cassidy up, we walked the long corridor to the car, and then she fell asleep during the drive home. Not a very exciting evening. Spiritually fulfilling yes, but seriously lacking something.

The next Wednesday, I decided to go to the high school, and Amy’s mom came and got the children. This was the plan tonight as well. So why was it so lonely?

To begin with, I went to McDonalds and ate by myself. I enjoy watching people, so I didn’t think this would get me depressed. I spent a good while watching some old people, and listening to them talk about a variety of topics. They talked about their health, and the high cost of living today. They reminisced about days gone by, and spoke of the hardness of this world. I became sad. Then came in what appeared to be a single mother with her children. She was having a really rough time with them, and looked rather stressed. About that time, a man and his son walked in. He spent a lot of time talking on his cell phone to a guy about how he hoped the divorce rate had increased “up there,” and how his friend was going to find out for him. I gathered he was seeking to find a divorced woman to help him raise his son. I then looked around and saw a several single people with children. I’m sure they were not all divorced, but I am certain many of them were. How sad is that? My heart really went out for the kids growing up in all those broken homes.

After that, I went to the high school. Our campus is a lonely place at night. My room is cold, and badly needs painting. Everything looks dirty. I have duck tape on the floor to protect the chords on the floor. They gave me chord protectors, but the kids kept tripping over them. The duct tape is safer. So anyway, Amy called and said that no one showed up. What a deal.

Surely things are going to get better, right? At least we still have our resolve. I am 100% sure there is something out there that will drive us with desire. There is some kind of ministry, or service, or something that we will one day be involved with that will really make life worth living! I think we are getting closer, but only time will tell. We didn’t find our place in life today, but I guess that means we are just one day closer!

UPDATE: Things are much better than they were that night. This past week Amy had a huge success with her group Bible study. I’m very proud of her.

Snow Angels

On Thursday, Cassidy and I had a good time playing in the snow. Everytime it snows, Cassidy wants to go outside and play. This time she made a snow angel. We tooks turns throwing snow balls at each other, and then at the window where Amy and Callie were at. It was fun time!

Another Video

View the latest video of the buildings

click HERE

Extremely Swamped!

Tonight I went to another meeting regarding the new high school. This is taking ALL of my time. The only reason that I can do this at all is because I really believe in the cause. Tonight I responded to some of the nay-sayers on the register news forum. Read my letter HERE.

Well, that is what has been going on this week. Meeting after meeting after meeting. Wow!

Plastics?

Wow, talk about cold! We are experiencing one of the coldest days we have had in a long, long time. So, what else is new? The car is leaking antifreeze now. I guess hitting the deer has caused it to spring a leak. Wow, it seems like all I do these days is work on vehicles.

Some of you have been asking me about plastics recently. I’d like to take a moment to respond to a column written by Jim Davidson in the Southern Illinoisan on January 27. In the column, Mr. Davidson quotes Dr. Edward Fujimoto (Castle Hospital) and the information he has been giving regarding the use of plastic in microwaves. According to Dr. Fujimoto, heating plastics in the microwave can emit harmful dioxins that can be absorbed by the fat in the food, and then ingested. Many dioxins are indeed very harmful, and can build up in one’s body. Dioxins have been linked to cancer, so the claim is certainly alarming.

To begin with, this rumor has been circulating for a very long time via forwards in e-mail. A quick search on the internet indicates this to be a full hoax. My honest opinion is that this story really is completely false. Dr. Edward Fujimoto specifically mentions Saran Wrap in his claim. According to SC Johnson, their Saran Wrap is 100% dioxin free. Of course, there are many containers that are not microwavable safe, and Saran wrap should not be allowed to come in contact with your food while you are heating it in the microwave, but that has nothing to do with dioxins (it melts and then you get plastic in your food.. Yuck!). If a container is not microwave safe, it can melt, which may in fact cause the fusion of chemicals into your food. Whether or not those chemicals are, in fact, dioxins seems to be up for debate.

That being said, there really does seem to be something that is causing more cancer in people these days. Maybe we are just better at diagnosing it, but I think it is something else. Could plastics be the culprit? I doubt it, but who knows? It could be any one of a number of things.

Taking Video

Okay, first off, sorry it has been so long since I have posted. This has just been a really busy time for us. Here is the latest project I have been working on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzgExMhLdgk

It is the first of several videos that will detail the quality of the buildings at MVTHS. Our kids really deserve better.