T as in Toledo (Holy implied)

Holy Toledo! One of us gets sick, then like dominoes, the whole family falls, one by one. Back tomorrow with some health and something for U!

Six Word Concert Surprise Update

S AS IN SURPRISE

Six Word Saturday.

Here's our Six Words:

Eureka, We found J.J. Heller Concert.




Puppy loves a Christian music artist by the name of J.J. Heller.  Whatever Puppy loves usually becomes a giant obsession with her.  So when she fell in love with the song "What Love Really Means" she wrote J.J. and asked when she was coming to concert near us.  J.J. wrote her back and told her to have us check the schedule at her website for upcoming concerts in the area.  Months passed and Puppy diligently reminded me to check the schedule.  When I did, nothing was really close.  Then a few months ago, I found it, a concert 2.5 hours from our house.  The concert was in Eureka, Illinois.  Eureka roughly translated means I found it. 

Now knowing Puppy like I do, I knew that 3 months of anticipation might not hurt her, but would probably kill us.    So I planned an elaborate day trip to see some historic Ronald Reagan sites which had us ending up in Eureka, Illinois this afternoon.

Bunny and Spider Droid were in on the secret, and it took every inch of self control they had not to spoil it for Puppy.

The field trips and the concert were amazing.  Here is some footage and pictures from the concert.

JJ Heller when she found out Puppy has same birthday as her daughter

For More Six Word Saturday CLICK HERE

Field Trip

R as in Reagan

As you read this we are on a family field trip. We are going to visit some Illinois towns steeped in Presidential history.

It is a Reagan themed trip with a little Honest Abe thrown in for good measure.

Today we are travelling to Dixon, where Reagan grew up. and to Eureka where Reagan went to college. I was also going to stop by Tampico, where he was born, in betwee Dixon and Eureka. I have decided to scrap Tampico and get a presidential 2fer by stopping in Galesburg. Reagan lived in Galesburg prior to Dixon. It is also one of the locations that Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln debated.

It should be fun and educational.

Quarterly Update

Q is for quarter. Today was the day that I was to announce the state quarter winners. well I have decided to give you all a few more weeks to enter. I will announce the winner on May 1 yes I will announce the winner on May 1.

Pennies from Heaven

P as in Penny

I  spent most of the day cleaning out my parents' attic.  They, mostly my Dad, want to reduce the clutter that can accumulate with 45 years at the same address.  With the help of Spider Droid I got everything out of the attic and into a spare room. 

There were plenty of memories and reminders in the attic and while there was some junk, it was definitely not like an episode of hoarders.

Halfway through the job, I found a c.d. boom box box.  It was so heavy, I thought it might still contain the c.d. player.  It was actually my brother Keith's coin collection.  It had been brought back to my folks' house shortly after he died 3 years ago this month.    As a rule,I didn't spend a lot of time going through all of the boxes.  Otherwise I'd probably still be over there.  I did spend 20 minutes or so looking through Keith's coins.  He really had a  pretty nice collection, buffalo nickels, Indian pennies, even a 2 cent coin from 1868.  Many coin books filled or partially filled.  Then I came to two bags of loose coins.  The first one was clearly marked foreign coins and the second was written in his unmistakable and almost illegible chicken scratch, Robert David Roller, his 11 year old son, who was 8 when Keith died and 5 when sickness made extened hospital stays a big chunk of his final years.  In those last years coin collecting seemed to have been put on hold.

That meant then when Bobby was very young, Keith purposed to share his passion of coin collecting and his collection itself with his son.

Seeing my nephew's name scrawled on that huge bag of coins,helped me completely form an idea that had been floating in my head.  I could prepare those coins in Keith's collection and give them as a gift to Bobby from Keith.  So, I took the coins home and am planning on doing just that. 

Original

O is for Original.

Dictionary.com says:

o·rig·i·nal

   /əˈrɪdʒənl/ Show Spelled

adjective

1.

belonging or pertaining to the origin or beginning of something, or to a thing at its beginning.

2.

new; fresh; inventive; novel

3.

arising or proceeding independently of anything else

4.

capable of or given to thinking or acting in an independent, creative, or individual manner

5.

created, undertaken, or presented for the first time

When I think about the word original, I often think about my children, and how unique they are.  Many things they say and do make me wonder at their cleverness and originality.  I spend a lot of time documenting those things right here, and in conversations with other people. 

I also think about original in terms of the first definition:  a thing at its beginning.  One of the many reasons I love homeschooling is because I love being there when my children learn something.  I love seeing learning in action.  One minute, they don't know something.  The next minute, they know it 

Another way to look at the word original is to talk about original sin.  We are sinners because Adam and Eve started us off running with their disobedience.  But I often wonder, if those two didn't choose the fruit, wouldn't their children have done so, or their children, or, theirs?  Or, say, me?  I often think that if nobody had sinned up until me, I still would have sinned.  I am a sinner.  There's no way around it.  Saved by grace, yes. Transformed daily, yes.  This is a reminder to myself, really.  I am often stuck marveling at my childrens' originality rather than helping them working out their salvation with fear and trembling (Philipians 2:12), because of our original sin. 

Or maybe we can do both?