Ginger Bread House Making Contest

Run, run as fast as you can. It just wouldn't be the holidays without the Gingerbread Man! Or Gingerbread Houses'. At our Ballard High School Small group we had Gingerbread house making contest. It was a messy blast. As we split into team I know I had an advantage having Casey in my group being that he is an engineer. Structural integrity Check. Sawyer was in charge of the story behind the house and Landon and I were the creative builders. As you can see our house was sweet. Literally.

Ron Santo

I am so saddened to hear of Ron Santo's passing. He was an Icon for every die-hard Cubs fan. My Dad was a die-hard Cubs fan as I have been now for many years. My Greatest memory was watching Cubs games with my dad only to have him mute the TV to listen to Ron Santo on the radio. Ron is #1 in MY Baseball Hall of Fame!!

Ron Santo played 15 Major League seasons. A star third baseman and part of the Cubs teams of the 1960s with Hall of Famers Ernie Banks and Billy Williams and Fergie Jenkins, many believe Santo should be in the Hall himself. And he played all of those games as a Type 1 diabetic. Santo was diagnosed at age 18 but didn't reveal his condition to teammates for years. Then he became a heartfelt broadcaster who couldn't help cheering his team from the radio booth for 21 more years. We will miss you Ron. #10

Return of the Squirrel

Our pet Squirrel is back and hungrier than ever. We have our ear of Corn that you have on our deck and we recently added a bird feeder box, which has turned into the Squirrel feeder box. Because the Squirrels are bullies and scare the birds away. But we have named our furry friend Gordy.

Lindsey & I are Models

Lindsey & I were asked to be models for this painting this guys was going to do. But first he wanted pictures to be taken of us. So here they are. The photos were taken by Libby Asay.

Decorated for Christmas

Old door that we found on our property. We will use this for decorations somehow. But I really liked this picture that my mom took. So I edited it a little bit.

Pictures that I took from my farm back in northeast Iowa.

Lindsey and I have a new pet. We have yet to name our furry friend. So if you have any ideas let us know. But as you can see from the video, we have a new squirrel friend. The last time I went back to North East Iowa to the Farm I brought back a couple of ears of corn. We placed them on our deck, and within a couple of days some squirrels have been eating them. But the one squirrel looks as though he needs to watch his calories and work out. Cause he is Fat.

Yesterday our furry friend got greedy. He was eating away when he decided to grab the corn, knock it off our deck onto the ground, and then tried carrying it way into the woods. Watching this take place I took action and ran after the thief to get our corn back. I scared him enough to drop the corn. I placed it back in it rightful place on our deck. But the thief came back today to steal the corn for good. So a question comes to mind. Do I enjoy playing with this squirrel or do I exterminate him. Check back for the rest of the story because I'm sure this story is not over.

Radical By David Platt

I bought a new book called Radical by David Platt. It focuses on how Christianity in America has become so watered down that we are spending less time letting God work through us to impact the nation and world for Jesus Christ and spending more time pursuing the American Dream. Indeed, as a Christian, I have admittingly spent much time pursuing the "American Dream" and finding out the dream turned into a nightmare - living to make enough money to buy a good house, having a family, making a decent income, having good health, etc. is NOT the ultimate goal of an American Christian. Glorifying God is to be our main purpose. Here are some quotes from the book that I thought were sweet.

"As long as you and I understand salvation as checking off a box to get to God, we will find ourselves in the meaningless sea of world religions that actually condemn the human race by exalting our supposed ability to get to God. On the other hand, when you and I realize that we are morally evil, dead in sin and deserving of God's wrath with no way out on our own, we begin to discover our desperation for Christ."

"The modern-day gospel says, 'God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Therefore, follow these steps, and you can be saved.' Meanwhile, the biblical gospel says, 'You are an enemy of God, dead in your sin, & in your present state of rebellion, you are not even able to see that you need life, much less to cause yourself to come to life. Therefore, you are radically dependent on God to do something in your life that you could never do."

“This is where we come face to face with a dangerous reality. We do have to give up everything to follow Jesus. We do have to love Him in a way that makes our closest relationships in this world look like hate. And it is entirely possible that He will tell us to sell everything we have and give it to the poor. . . . We rationalize these passages away. . . And this is where we need to pause. Because we are starting to redefine Christianity. . . We are molding Jesus into our image. He is beginning to look a lot like us. . . And the danger now is that when we gather in our church buildings to sing and lift up our hands in worship, we may not actually be worshiping the Jesus of the Bible. Instead we may be worshiping ourselves.“

“God beckons storm clouds, and they come. He tells the wind to blow and the rain to fall, and they obey immediately. He speaks to the mountains, ‘You go there,’ and he says to the seas, ‘You stop here,’ and they do it. Everything in all creation responds in obedience to the Creator…until we get to you and me. We have the audacity to look God in the face and say, ‘No.’“

I see over the horizon a light beginning to show and I know the Master is on His way. I want to be found doing His work on my last day here. I can't wait to resume this journey now as a RADICAL.