Where's the Carnival?

Each April the lethargy that comes with much time spent indoor during the winter melts away as surely as the winter's snow. Bikes are rode, balls are tossed, kites flown and the carnival comes to our town. At least that's how things were until last year. Last year our "April Carnival" did not come until June.

Today is April 28th and the carnival is not yet here. Hopefully it will come soon. Here is some footage from last year's carnival. Lucy and her cousin Bobby sure seem to be enjoying themselves!



A different kind of carnival has arrived as it does each week. The Carnival of Homeschooling. While I have submiited several carnival entries in the past, (see my labels) I have not before actively promoted the sight. This week I have started announcing the current host of the carnival.

In addition, I will be hosting the May 19th carnival at Home School Dad. More will be announced about that in the near future. This weeks carnival is being hosted by Corn and Oil. I encourage you to check it out!

Next Time: In Praise of Three Things Thursday.

Hockey Lessons

My Three things this Thursday are: hockey lessons, lost update, and a give-away.

1. Hockey Lessons.

I recently completed reading a book about the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team entitled The boys of winter by Wayne Coffey. It's a perfect companion piece to the film "Miracle." Although, I have never played hockey, there are many valuable lessons to be learned from these boys. I will be posting some of them here in the near future.

Speaking of hockey, on January 1, 2009 there was a Hockey game between the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Black Hawks. This is not unusual in itself, as these teams being part of the original 6 teams in the N.H.L. have skated against each other hundreds of times. What made the game a spectacle, is the venue, It was played outdoors at Wrigley Field the friendly confines of the Chicago Cubs. Which brings us to ...

2. Lost Update.

I was at Wrigley last night to watch the Cubs take on the Cincinnati Reds. The Cubs lost 0-3.

I went with my son, Charlie and my brother in law, Mike. Throughout the ballpark there are signs advising to be alert for foul balls. Charlie and I had brought our gloves but nothing came our way. At the gift shop I saw a 8.5 by 5.5 replica post card of the sign for just a buck. I told Charlie that I'd buy it for him and we'd hang it on his wall. His reaction: "When I get my Blog, I am going to post it there!" You guys know how 7 year olds get excited about blogs and stuff.

It was nice to spend some time with Mike. He has spent much of the past year being the primary care giver for my father-in-law and helping him recuperate from various illnesses and injuries. It was good for him to get a respite from all that and catch a game with us.

Speaking of respites, that brings us to . . .

3. Give-a-way.

In my most recent post, I talked about the importance of taking a break or helping someone else take a break so you or they can be re energized. I also announced a give-a-way of a c.d and a book. The book is Unsung Heroes by Michael Kelly Blanchard. Blanchard is a singer/songwriter best known for writing "Be Ye Glad." The c.d. by Point of Grace is called How You Live. Point of Grace is the Christian Pop quartet that has recently become a Country Trio.

To register for the give-a-way which ends on April 30th leave a comment at my original post.

Those are my three things for Thursday April 23rd. Go to Psalm 104:24 to see what other trios of things are out there for your perusal.

Next Time: Where's the Carnival?

Give me (them) a break.

As the main teacher/caregiver of the family this past year I have a new appreciation of what a privilege it is to educate your own children. I also have developed an appreciation of how taxing an occupation that is. It is so taxing that from time to time I need to be away from my children and either have time to myself or time to reconnect with Amy.

I think it is vital for parents to take time away on a regular basis. Amy and I are blessed that both our parents are somewhat local and can watch our children from time to time. We also have a neighbor that can often babysit at a moments notice. Some families don't have those luxuries. Perhaps they have older children that can watch the kids. Perhaps they have other families that they can trade babysitting with.

There is a family from our church that has 3 adopted children 5 or under. They have a 3 year old who has many special needs. At home he can be quite a handful and make it very difficult for the rest of the family to connect with each other or be able to go on outings like the zoo or even be able to get work done around the house. So when they joined our home school support group they put a prayer request in that they were looking for some people that could give their son some respite care.

Amy and I both have some background in ministering to special needs children, so we offered to help. About once a month Luke comes over for a day or two. He is a wonderful boy and quite frankly we are still waiting for him to have any type of episode. One of our children will generally implode the weekend he is with us, but never Luke. His parents have told us he usually does much better with other people. Our kids love him, and we all look forward to his visits. In July, he will stay with us for a whole week, and it should be a great time.

So that's why I think taking a break from your kids or helping others do the same works for me. Giving stuff away works for me also and as this is my 75th post, It is time for Crazy Dave to come out and give something away. I am giving away a book and a c.d. so that the next time you take some time off you will have something to read or listen to. The c.d. is How you Live by Point of Grace and the book is Unsung Heroes by Michael Kelly Blanchard. The giveaway ends 10:00 CST April 30th. Just leave a comment to enter. I am again giving additional entries to those following my blog. See the sidebar for official rules.

To see what else works go to We Are That Family.

Next Time: Hockey Lessons

Random Postings: An open letter to the car behind me.

In 2001 I wrote the following letter for our family website:



Dear Car Behind me 7:30 p.m September 1st exiting Elk Grove Bowl Parking lot onto Southbound Arlington Heights,


Yesterday as my wife, daughter and I were heading home from dinner at the Rose Garden restaurant in Elk Grove we were making a left out of the parking lot of The Grove Shopping Center on the corner of Arlington Heights Road. We were joined by you on our tail. My wife, who is probably the worlds best and safest driver, was waiting for traffic on both sides to subside before making our turn.

This is when you, in your 2nd row mentality, decided that you could see the traffic better behind our minivan than we could ahead of you. So you blared on your horn, indicating that we really should be turning at that exact moment and make you wait no longer. Well, Superman, (A reference to your x-ray vision; being able to see past our car to the ongoing traffic) not 3 seconds after you honked, a northbound car barreled past us.

This means that if we took your horn blowing advice, and stuck our cars nose out in traffic, that most likely my wife, myself, and my daughter and our unborn child would be dead right now. My daughter would not have turned two today. The house in Carpentersville we moved into yesterday would have never been lived in by us, nor paid off by us, saddling our parents with grief and debt.

Fortunately, as disconcerting as your second row salute was, my wife did not go until the coast was actually clear. You, then had the audacity to catch up with us and give my wife a glare! Don't you realize, that if we did take your advice and got smashed up, you would have most likely been even further delayed than you were. When we both stopped at the light at Landmeier it was all I could do to not roll my window down and give you an earful.

This has happened to me so many times before. We live in an area of congested traffic, driving in front of people who honk the horn at us before the light turns green. If you guys are so quick on the draw, how come you generally are behind me ?

So car behind me, next time you are second in line behind somebody else: try to remember that it's not just a car you are behind, it is people!

Love,

Dave Roller

A little perspective: I sent a copy of letter to our local newspaper and they advised me it would be published on September 12, 2001. I don't believe the newspaper evcer published it due to more serious matters from that time period.

Next Time: Give me a Break