Spontaneous Cheese

I promised I would be back. And now I am. 

To tell a story about cheese. Yes, cheese. 

But before I get into any cheesy details, let me apologize for my long absence (what else is new?) Spring has opened the floodgates of life, and it seems it has also opened the floodgates of new responsibilities and chores that smother a person and leave him with no time to breathe, let alone blog. 

Speech season is over for the year. I'm staying home this time--but my little brother Eric is going to Alabama in June for the NCFCA Nationals in Team Policy Debate! This came after he won the award for Team Policy Debate Speaker Champion (1st place debate speaker) for the entire Northeast region, to boot. Why didn't he do this for me last year??? I smell a conspiracy...

...or maybe it's not a conspiracy. Maybe I'm smelling the vacuum cheese. Yes, I said vacuum cheese. 

To make a long story short, last week a gallon of milk spilled onto the downstairs rug. After vacuuming it up with a wet/dry vacuum, I put the vacuum on the counter, walked away, and forgot the whole thing. 

Until today, when my dad remembered the vacuum and told me to empty the milk from its tank. The only problem was, the stuff in the tank wasn't milk anymore. 

Yum. (This is actually the same kind of stuff we put on pizza?) 

The worse part is, these white globs actually smelled like cheese. (And felt like it, too). 

Oh, well. Who ever said you couldn't learn science from your vacuum cleaner? 

Lovely Mansion

Home of the Foundation for Economic Education...

I'm Back...For Five Minutes

Due to several loving prods of encouragement from certain bloggers I know (ahem...we don't point fingers here, so I will refrain myself...)...

...I AM BACK! 

For a grand total of 5 minutes. 

I am leaving to go to a three-day tournament at the Foundation for Economic Education in New York in three and a half hours, so I must move quickly. Let's see, what has happened since January? 

Observation #1. Mike Huckabee is gone. Yeah, we broke our backs getting out to Londonderry to see him, and then what? The guy loses the nomination. I wanted to be able to brag to everybody that I saw the president!....Oh well, I'll give him a break--winning a nomination is not easy to do. And besides, John McCain is the Republican nominee now. If he wins, my bragging rights are still intact.

And hey, Huck might win the Vice-Presidency, anyway...

Observation #2. Philip is ridiculously good at Tic-Tac-Toe. You know it's bad day when you lose three games in a row to your six-year-old brother. The first time I was thinking "Hey, this'll be easy"....and two moves later, Philip is sticking the paper in my face and grinning without giving it to me. It took me three full seconds to see the ominous row of three straight O's scrawled vertically in the side column. 

It happened again during the second game, and the third game. 

(Confidential note: the second-game loss was not due to any Tic-Tac-Toe ineptness...rather, it was due to the loving bestowment of wise judgment on the part of an older brother...) 

Observation #3. I have no more current observations. 

But don't worry. I shall return! 

(As Douglas McArthur said to the Phillippines...) 

Us With Mike Huckabee

2008...

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful." ~ Colossians 3:15

It's amazing when you finally begin to grasp the impact of certain Scriptures that you have read so many times before. The verse above is an example of this in my life. I don't know how many times I have read this passage before...but it was only during the last Sunday in 2007, as Pastor Eric led us carefully through Colossians 3, that the phrase in the beginning of the verse jumped out at me.

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts..."

By the end of 2008, I want to be able say that I lived the year ruled not by frustrations, anger or anxiety...but by the peace of God.

If the past couple of days are any indication, 2008 should be an interesting year. Last night and today, part of my family got to hear two presidential candidates--John McCain and Mike Huckabee. Our church friends the Bradburys accompanied us on both trips.

I was especially glad to see Huckabee, who I have heard many good things about, but McCain isn't all that bad, either. From what I've gathered over the past couple of weeks, these two men are the best conservative options to take over the leadership of America.

Huckabee has gotten a lot of attention due his profession of faith in Christ (although he barely ever references Christ's name publicly) and his emphasis on its importance in his campaign. This article, although a month old, is a good overview on Huckabee:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/12/09/huckabees_campaign_faces_a_tipping_point/

(If someone wants to access it and can't, please let me know.)



Yeah, he likes to jam...he's pretty good at it, too...



Do I know this person?


If you move from right to left...it looks like support for Huckabee is SINKING...!!!



Young politicians


Disclaimer: this post does not mean we fully endorse Huckabee and all of his views. He just appears to be best option out of all the presidential candidates out there.

More pictures to come later, hopefully...