Landscaping

Here are some pictures of the brick edging that Josh did for us while we were away this past weekend. We love it. It really adds a lot to the front of our home. Thanks again Josh! Your servant heart is an inspiration.

Weekend Updates

I realized today that's it's been a full two weeks since I've updated this. Usually I use some break time at work to keep this updated, and lately, well, there hasn't been much break time at work. We've been cranking on a project for ICC that just went to the printer this morning. It feels so good to be able stretch a little bit now that I'm out from under that deadline.

Heidi & I went to Michigan over Labor day with the Snyders to visit Jake & Meika. We were sorry we had to miss the Sabetha wedding, but we had an amazingly wonderful time in Michigan. It was good to catch up with friends we hadn't seen in awhile and make new friends also. The weather was absolutely perfect the entire 3 days. We spent Saturday on the beach at Lake Michigan playing volleyball, swimming, and relaxing. We had a lot of good late-night discussions. We learned that Jake refuses to ever change his children's diapers. :-) Meika's praying that will change when the time comes. My wife learned that Benedryl does not put her to sleep, but, in fact, does the exact opposite. Kenton & I both affirmed that we are very thankful we don't have to drive in Chicago traffic on a regular basis.
















In other fun news, Heidi & I came home to some wonderful landscape work that was done while we were gone! We now have brick edging along the front of our home thanks to Josh Gerber! That man has the most servant heart of anyone I've ever met. Thanks again Josh! We really owe you big time. My Heidi & I keep saying that we just may have to name our first-born boy after him for all he's done for us. I'll have to take some pictures of the beautiful work he did and post them here.

It's Called Managing!

I think the best part is the "Thanks for asking." at the end. HA!

Lightning in super slow motion

"Round the corners of your head"

I was reading in Leviticus this past weekend, and I came upon this verse:
Leviticus 19:27 - Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.

Does anyone know what "round the corners of your head" means? Here's the context.

I've found out that this is something the Gentiles used to do when in mourning, but it didn't actually explain what it was.

Here's a bunch of different translations. However, some of them almost seem to describe different things. It's not a big deal, I was just curious to see if anyone had a good answer.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
'You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
"Never shave the hair on your foreheads, and never cut the edges of your beard.

King James Bible
Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.

American King James Version
You shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shall you mar the corners of your beard.

American Standard Version
Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.

Bible in Basic English
The ends of the hair round your face and on your chin may not be cut off.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Nor shall you cut your hair roundwise: nor shave your beard.

Darby Bible Translation
ye shall not shave the corners of your head round, neither shalt thou mutilate the corners of thy beard.

English Revised Version
Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.

Webster's Bible Translation
Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.

World English Bible
"'You shall not cut the hair on the sides of your heads, neither shall you clip off the edge of your beard.

Young's Literal Translation
'Ye do not round the corner of your head, nor destroy the corner of thy beard.

99 Balloons

Paul Grimm sent me this video last night. What a great dose of perspective on this Thursday morning. It moved me to tears.

Eliot was born with an undeveloped lung, a heart with a hole in it and DNA that placed faulty information into each and every cell of his body. However, that could not stop the living God from proclaiming Himself through this boy who never uttered a word.


Download available at http://www.ignitermedia.com

Schindler's List

I few days ago I read this article by Greg Koukle and it spurred me to rent Schindler's List. Last night my wife and I sat down, and, for almost 3 1/2 hrs, experienced Steven Spielberg's film adaptation of the story of Oskar Schindler.

After watching the movie, I'd have to agree with Greg's assessment when he says, "These movies are important for us to see because they keep us from thinking too highly of ourselves. They force us to see ourselves as we really are."

When Greg says "as we really are", he's referring to humankind's depravity. This movie shows men committing atrocities with no remorse. It gives a stark, cold, jarring picture of what we are capable of. And even though Schindler accomplishes a great good, in the end he still abandons his wife and fails in business.

I doubt it was a purpose Spielberg anticipated for this film, but I saw a film that cried out with humankind's need for a Savior. When we are confronted with our base sinful behavior in such a poignant manner, we should have to ask ourselves, "How am I any different".

How are you different?

Here's the preview trailer for Schindler's List

Sigh of Relief

Well, it was 11:30pm before we declared it done, but yesterday was good day. The floor is now completely grouted (except a few touch-up spots), the kitchen counter is on, the sink is installed, and the sink drain is re-plumbed and working great! Josh Gerber came over and spent about 5 1/2 hours installing and re-plumbing our kitchen sink. He's been a HUGE help during our remodeling phase. I can't thank him enough.
















Out of all the remodeling projects we've done on this house, the grouting was definitely the toughest job. It took WAY longer than what I expected and required much more physical effort. Now that it's done, I'm pleased with the results.

I still have to paint and install the shoe molding around the edge of the floor and put on interior door hardware before I can declare myself "done", but it's nice to finally be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Yesterday was my wife's 21st birthday, so I took the day off work to spend some time with her, and try to get our house in order. I finished mowing the lawn for her and then we went to brunch at Cracker Barrel. Then we went to Wielands to look at push-mowers. I was kind of caught of guard by how expensive push mowers are. Apparently non-self-propelled mowers are more expensive than self-propelled units. Weird huh? They said it was because they didn't sell very many non-self-propelled, so they can't sell them as cheap. *shrugs*