Sword Fighting and Being Soldiers for the Most High

It is snowing here in the North West corner of OHIO today. The boys wanted to go outside and use some of the pent up energy that they have. They received practice swords from Vision forum for Christmas this year and decided to "practice" in the snow. They set the line out in our front lawn and soon they were having a great amount of fun and exercise. They were dodging and lunging all over the front lawn. I was thinking while watching them outside, we need to be this way at defending ourselves against the enemies of Christianity. Taking our "swords" and following after Christ daily with our challenges and worldly confrontations. Confronting what is wrong in our society and taking it back for the Glory of God.

Tim

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!!!!
I hope everyone has had a Blessed Christmas. I worked last night and got off work this morning at 7:00 am. I have the rest of this week off though. We will be spending quality time as a family before Lisa's surgery on the 31st.

Unto us this day a child is born in the city of Bethlehem, a Savior which is Christ the Lord.
He is the reason for the season.

May God bless you and keep you all!!

Tim

A Wonderful Weekend

The Children on the Rope bridge

This past weekend we were able to attend the viewing of "Mysterious Islands" in Kentucky at the Convention Center in Covington. We had such a wonderful time meeting a family there (The Moyers), and going out to dinner at a small restaurant down the block. Getting to know them is such a blessing. It almost seems like we have known each other for years and a lot of the roads we have travled seemed very familiar. We were able to go to worship on Sunday and listen to Dan Horns message. It was a wonderful message and one that everyone needed to hear. I hope we will be able to attend more conferences this coming year, it has always been a blessing to hear the speakers and meet new families.

The Creation Museum was wonderful and we had a great time walking around seeing all the lights outside. We enjoyed a couple new exhibits like the blind cave fish, the different dogs skulls, while enjoying the walk through the Bible. This trip has been a joy and blessing to all of us.

The blind cave fish

The Christmas light display

The dogs skulls

Lisa's gall bladder surgery is scheduled for the 31st at 7:00 am. She has pre op blood work to get done today so I better wind this up. I will post again soon.

Blessings in Christ,
Tim

Pearl Harbor: Tragedy and Providence

On December 7th 1941, an event occurred that would change the world forever. After weeks of preparation, a Japanese task force consisting of the aircraft carriers Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu, Zuikaku, Shokaku; the cruisers Tone and Chikuma; and the battleships Hies and Kirishima were steaming towards the Islands of Hawaii. Also included were nine destroyers and ten subs along with a combined total of 432 airplanes. It was 4:05 AM when the mine sweeper Condor sighted what appeared to be the periscope of a Japanese submarine. She immediately notified the destroyer U.S.S. Ward who sounded general quarters and began an extensive search of the area.

At 6:37 the Japanese sub was sighted again, this time by the cruiser Antares. The nearby U.S.S. Ward shot twice, the first time shooting high and the second time getting a direct hit. The sub tilted slightly to one side and then slid beneath the waves. Commander Lt. William W. Outerbridge sent a report at 6:51 to the 14th Navel District Headquarters at Pearl Harbor. Fifteen minutes previous Privates Joseph Lockard and George Elliott reported several planes approaching from the Northeast. These may have been scout planes launched from the cruisers Tone and Chikuma. At 7:06, six minutes after his watch ended, Elliott reported that there was a large group of planes heading their way. This however was mistaken for a flight of B-17s that were supposed to be arriving from California.

At 7:40 Lt. Commander Fuchida with 48 Nakajima B2N1 High- Level bombers started their attack. The Japanese plan was to disable the American aircraft that were still on the ground and then attack our carriers and battleships. By God's providence all of the aircraft carriers were gone on odd jobs. The light cruiser Raleigh and the target ship Utah were the first to be hit. What was to follow was the destruction of Battleship Row and Pearl Harbor itself. In the end the total loss was 900 crewmen missing, 2,403 dead, 1,178 wounded, 169 aircraft destroyed, 3 ships destroyed and 18 ships badly damaged.

Although Pearl Harbor was one of the most devastating attacks in the history of the United States of America, it should have been much worse. Only 3 ships were destroyed out of the 21 that were hit and although they repeatedly strafed our encampment on Ford Island not a single life was lost. We still had all of our carriers and we still had the Lord.

-By T.J. and Kaleb

For more information see: http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/pearlharbor/ax/frameset.html

Thanksgiving!! A lot to be thankful for!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
As an update to Lisa's scoping, all went well yesterday. They had planned on her staying over night for observation. However after the scoping the Doctor said that he couldn't find any stones in the bile duct and that she would be able to go home after spending some time in recovery. Thank you all very much for your prayers. We will now have to get the surgery scheduled. As soon as that is done on either Mon or Tues. I will let you know. Also my Dad is also out of the hospital and is doing better for now. They have been in Louisianna for a while and will be heading for Texas in a few days. Again I thank you for all your prayers. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving all. I'll keep you posted.

In Christ,
Tim

New Update!!

Hello All,

We're most of the way over the Swine Flu now, though the boys and Daddy still have some pretty rough sounding coughs. We went to the doctor yesterday and got some antibiotics to (hopefully) keep them from getting pneumonia. Mommy and I did end up getting some of the symptoms, though we never had it as bad as the boys! Your prayers would still be very much appreciated.

Another prayer request is for our Grandpa (Papa) Cadle. He is in the hospital for the third time for bleeding and they still don't know what is causing it. The first hospital in Maine cited stomach ulcers, the second in North Carolina thought it was diverticulitis, and this hospital (in Florida) thinks it is some sort of bacteria in his digestive tract. They just scoped him yesterday but we don't know the results yet.

Christmas secrets are starting to develop and there have been heightened levels of whispering and sneaking! Hope all is well with everyone else. Feel free to leave us some comments! (Hint, Hint!) To do so, just click on the 0 COMMENTS link beneath this post and it will take you to a form you can fill out. You can use any screen name you like and only we (the moderators of the blog) will see your e-mail address! Once again I hope everyone is well! God Bless!

In Christ,

For the Family,

Tiffany

Update!!

Hello All,
We got the results from Mommy's MRI. She'll need to be scoped shortly before Thanksgiving. The H1N1 bug (Swine Flu) has invaded our house! Daddy got it first, then Kaleb and finally T.J. . Mommy and I have been holding out so far, though the germs are likely incubating inside us at the moment. The Doctor has us all on Tamiflu now, so that should nip it in the bud! We would greatly appreciate everyone's prayers!

In Christ,
For the Family,
Tiffany

P.S. No one wanted to have their picture taken for this post!!!

It's Here!!

The brand new, 2010, Vision Forum Catalog!

Mom was the first to look through it, then the boys, and then me (Tiffany)! I couldn't resist snapping a few shots of the boys as they poured over it!

Sorry for the lack of posting lately! We've been busy trying to prepare everything for Mom's gall bladder surgery. (She had an attack a few weeks ago, the third time in eight years, and the doctor says it's time to get it out!) As planned, she will have laparoscopic surgery rather than open surgery. This means that she will only have a few small incisions rather than one large one. Right now we are waiting on the results from the MRI to find out whether or not she has any stones outside her gall bladder and if she will have to be scoped before the surgery. We would appreciate everybody's prayers!!

Today has been rather busy, we pulled down the last of the herbs we were drying and got them safely stored away! This year we dried lavender (by the boatloads!), chamomile, sweet basil, cinnamon basil, lemon balm, lemon verbena, lemon thyme, peppermint, chocolate mint, chives, pineapple sage, and stevia! I also made and seal-a-mealed some meat loves for later as well as making a big batch of pie crust dough that yielded twelve crusts! School has been going quite well for the boys and I'm starting to get used to not having any school books to pull out in the morning!

I'll try harder to keep this place updated in the future! God Bless!

For the Family,

Tiffany

Fall is here!!

It seems like just yesterday we were going into spring. Where did the summer go??? Have you ever asked this same question? It seems so likely you have. We as a society have gotten so BUSY, we don't even stop to appreciate the Seasons or Family as much as we used to. Should we settle for this and accept it as a normal part of "life in the fast lane"? Should we do something to change it? I think this philosophical question should be asked by everyone. I'm presently asking myself this question. I can tell you one thing, that I don't want to be like society and lose my identity as an individual. I have gotten so busy this last summer with ALL the THINGS of life etc. that I feel I have dropped the ball and fumbled my family. I really need to work hard to get back to the place where God wants me to be. We have strived so hard to be where God whats us. As a Father I have been in trusted with many lives to Shepard and disciple. I need to regain my strength in Christ and rise to the occasion and accept my responsibility again as the leader of MY house. I need to stop and smell the delicate Roses of the family that God has given me, spend time with them and rebuild the example of Christ for those around us. I don't want to look back and reflect again and ask these same questions with out already knowing the answers. "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord". I will chose to reflect on each season for Gods goodness and grace to MY family.

In Christ,
Tim

Genesis 8:21-22 KJV 21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. 22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Family day at North Star Blue Scope Steel

My work had a family day this last Sat the 19th. We took Lisa's parents through on a tour of the facility they really enjoyed themselves. The boy's entered a fishing derby with about 15 minutes left till it ended. TJ won the largest fish caught award. On his second cast he caught a 12.5 inch bass. Kaleb he didn't get a bite. He was however very excited for his brother. I think over all we all had a good time. Unfortunately Lisa didn't get a picture of the fish.

The New TEA PARTY reminder

We can not be the silent majority any longer. We need to step up and be counted. My Daughter is reading Francis A. Shaeffer's book How Should We Then Live? It's about the rise and decline of western thought and culture. Frankly, we have come way too far from the biblical model for the family and society. Here is a Quote from the book.

"...will we resist authoritarian government in all its forms regardless of the label it carries and regardless of its origin? The danger in regard to the rise of authoritarian government is that Christians will be still as long as their own religious activities, evangelism and life-styles are not disturbed.
We are not excused from speaking, just because the culture and society no longer rest as much as they once did on Christian thinking. Moreover, Christians do not need to be in the majority in order to influence society.
...If we as Christians do not speak out as authoritarian governments grow from within or come from outside, eventually we or our children will be the enemy of society and the state. No truly authoritarian government can tolerate those who have a real absolute by which to judge its arbitrary absolutes and who speak out and act upon that absolute.
...Here is a sentence to memorize: To make no decision in regard to the growth of authoritarian government is already a decision for it."

The author goes on to quote Ezekiel 33:1-11, 19.

The tea party is Sept 12th 12:00 to 3:00 in Wauseon, at Homecoming park at the pavillion. See You there...

We all need to have vision for our families, and work toward these visions.
Have a great week!!

God bless you,
Tim

Mike Rogers on National Healthcare Bill

This was sent to us from our neighbors. He is a voice of reason in Congress. We need to pray for our leaders in Congress to have Wisdom and Understanding that only the Lord can provide.

Tim

The Night was Great!!!!

We had a wonderful time the other evening sitting around our outside fire place.  We had a great relaxing time that evening.  Talking and sharing, goofing off and being a family together.  The stars were out in all there glory with the moon trying to hide behind the trees.  The smoke was rising and keeping the bugs at bay.  Hope our golden retriever was very interested in my smores.  Looking hopeful to dejected before getting a marshmellow of her own.  I thank God for nights like this they are so few and far between.

The Fire!!

Hope is hopeful!!! "Is he gonna share????"

Hope is dejected!!! " I guess not!!!"

Hope gets her treat! She was very happy!!

The Moon showing through the trees!!!!

God bless you

Tim

Split and stacked

The boy's rearranged the wood pile, while I split the wood.  We just stacked it using the "Chain Gang" method as Kaleb calls it.  It is such a blessing to have children willing to help out and do what it takes to get the job done.  I thank the Lord for giving us such a wonderful guide for life and family in his Holy Word the Bible.  We have a lot to learn and are very thankful for our Lord's patience with us, for there are many times we "don't get it"or we think our way will be easier etc.and end up flat on our faces.  We are planing on getting another load of slab wood tomorrow morning.  I hope to get it cut to length and unloaded soon, so I can get some more smaller edging pieces for our wood cook stove on Friday.  It is dinner time and I hope to have a fire in our outdoor patio fireplace later this evening.

God Bless you,
Tim

Edge trim wood cut and stacked!!

This morning the rain stopped about 11:00 am.  The boys and I with the help of Tiffy on the tractor pulling the trailer, cut and loaded and stacked the rest of the truck load of wood.  The rest of the week end we'll have to get the splitting done on the bigger stuff in between my working this weekend.  The end of my vacation is at hand.  Overall  we did get quite abit done around here.  A dent to say the least.

God bless you,
Tim

Salsa is done!!!!!

Finally Done!!  19 quarts of Mild, and 10 quarts and 7 pints of Medium.  It looks and tastes GREAT!! not that I'm partial or anything.  We thank the Lord for our abundant harvest.  Time for Tylenol and OFF to BED.  We will have to finish with the wood in the morning, Rain or Shine, there's about half of it left to cut and stack.

 

God bless you all, and to all a good night
Tim

Fall is coming soon!!!!

We have been gathering in the wood for the winter, so far we have a truck load of bigger pieces of wood that need splitting, and a truck load of smaller that just needs cut to length. We get our fire wood from a local guy that has his own sawmill. We get the edge and the trim pieces from the big logs . It is all hardwood, mostly oak and burns really well in our wood stoves. The price is very reasonable and will cut our electric costs this winter. The chain saw has been very busy the last few days, now the real work begins, the splitting.  The boy's and I will be using the axes, hatches, wedges and the Sledge, to make short work of the larger pieces, so they will be more manageable.  We will still have to get another Load of each, but for now it is enough to get stacked and put away.

We also processed about 40 pounds of peaches into peach butter and boy is it wonderful.  It is kind of like apple butter only made with peaches added with nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon.  The girls got the recipe out of the "Ball Book" last year and made a small batch.  We liked it so well that we made MORE this year.

We are making salsa today with the peppers and tomatoes from our garden.  We had to buy onions because ours aren't big enough yet.  We will be  getting it started as soon as my post is done. 

 God bless you

Tim

The New TEA PARTY

My Father in law told me that we will be having a new tea party at Homecoming Park at the pavillion in Wauseon, OH, on The 12th of September 2009, at noon. They are still updating the web site for this event. Good chance that Bob Latta our congressional rep. will be speaking again like the last one. The web site is www.fultonteaparty.com. We encourage all who can, to come and be counted, it is inspiring to see that we are not alone. Hope to see you there!!!!!!

God Bless,
Tim

Spoiled!!!!

Which is more spoiled? The boy or the cat?

Happy Fourth of July!!!!!!

On July 3, 1776, John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, reflecting on what he had shared in Congress and, with prophetic insight, declaring the importance of that day:

" The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever.

You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the gloom I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is worth more than all the means; that posterity will triumph in that day's transaction, even though we [may regret] it, which I trust in God we shall not."

Praise the Lord,

Tim

Finally Home!!!!!!

Hello Everyone!

We arrived home on Monday; glad to be home, glad to have the memories, and still laughing over our "Comedy of Errors" trip!!! Last we posted we had just gotten the truck back and were preparing to hit the road again. We moved the trailer up to a campground in Black Hawk so we would be closer to the action. Upon getting out and setting up we discovered three things: a vent cover was missing, the air conditioning wouldn't work, and some keys were missing!!! Fortunately, we were able to get the last cover in the area for our size vent, and Daddy fixed the air conditioning, but if you see a key ring with a large red tag on it, please let us know!

The rest of the trip we spent looking at Needles Highway, the Wildlife Loop, Mammoth Site, Devil's Tower, and Ft. Laramie (which was very informative and one of my favorite visits)! We also saw Chimney Rock and Scott's Bluff from a distance! Our biggest adventure was in Nebraska!

We were trying to make it to a campground near Lake McConaughy late at night and in a storm when we got stuck in between two hills on a gravel road. Now, a gravel road is usually no problem, but with all the rain, sand and dirt had turned it into a muck pit. We couldn't get enough traction to make it up the one hill, and the trailer would try to land in the ditch if we attempted to back up the other hill! We called for help and were told that the wrecker was in Big Springs trying to get a semi out of a ditch, and to expect an hour or so wait! The emergency brake does not engage the trailer brakes, and so would not keep us out of the ditch! Therefore, poor Daddy had to keep his foot on the truck brake for, what would turn out to be, a SEVEN HOUR wait! It was pitch black out that night, with no civilization in sight. A few cars stopped, two of which were drunk (one man even claimed he could pull us out with his little SUV!!!), and (just before dawn) one really nice lady who felt bad for us and brought back her husband an hour later. By that time the sun was up, the ground was dryer, and we were ready to try one more time. And... We made it!!! And just as we turned a bend in the road, we looked back to see the tow truck arriving!

We got back on the main road and pulled off at the nearest truck stop and slept! After that we got through with out a hitch (though we did have to drive for as long as we could), and got home two days behind schedule. It really was a wonderful trip and we have a whole bundle full of memories!!

In Christ,

For the family,

~ Tiffany

P.S. I'll be sure to post lots of pictures soon!!

Places we've been

Hi Everyone!

Daddy just got done bringing you up to the present, so I thought I would post a few more details and pictures of the places he mentioned. After leaving Wisconsin, our first stop was in:

1. Burr Oak, Iowa

Here we saw the Seed Savers Farm, a place that collects and preserves from extinction all the original, non-genetically altered plants they can. So far they have preserved some where around 2,500 different varieties, from broom corn to the almost extinct moon and stars melon.

We also saw the hotel that Laura Ingalls and her family worked in at Burr Oak. This place was not mentioned in any of the "Little House" books that she wrote in later life, but occurred between their time in Walnut Grove and their move to De Smet.

The Entry to the Visitor's Center (where the tour starts)!

At the Hotel, $0.25 would guarantee you that you wouldn't share the bed with more than two other people!!!!!

The room where Laura and her family stayed!

2. Walnut Grove, Minnesota

We ended up arriving here late at night, long after everything had closed. We did however, manage to take a few shots of the Visitor's Center!

3. De Smet, South Dakota
This is where "On the Shores of Silver Lake" "Little Town on the Prairie" "The Long Winter" "These Happy Golden Years" and "The First Four Years" took place! We visited the area where Pa staked his claim and built the claim shanty! Because of time constraints (which have turned out to be a large factor on this trip!) we did not have time to take the tour, but did climb to the top of a viewing platform to take pictures!

That dark area at the very top of the picture is the currently dry, "Big Slough" that Laura and Carrie got lost in and Pa harvested hay from!

4. Mitchell, South Dakota

We didn't take any pictures here (all cameras where back in the trailer) but the Corn Palace did look very interesting as we were driving by. I was sort of expecting the pictures to be made of so many corn kernels poured between two sheets of glass. Instead, everything was open air; glued to the side of the building and made up of corn cobs, different grasses, and multiple other grains!

5. Badlands National Park
This area is so gorgeous, I'll have to let the pictures speak for themselves! (After all, a picture is worth a thousand words!)

6. Mount Rushmore National Park

I think that should be enough for now, I'll post pictures of the other places later! Hope you all have a great day and week!

In Christ,
For the Family,
~ Tiffany