Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Leg'go My Lego!

One of Caleb's gifts this Christmas was a Lego set of the Great Wall of China.  He was reluctant to even start it but once I got him going on it and how to follow instructions (and back-track when he did something wrong), he couldn't stop.

He worked on it for a little over 2 hours straight until he had it finished.


This was about the point when the serious determination set in.  There were a few points of frustration prior to this that I helped him resolve, but man, once he knew how to resolve those problems, it was ON!!


Hard at work.  My picture angle was attempting to hide Robby in the background which is why Caleb seems to have tiny arms protruding from his neck area!  LOL!


Completed and dang proud about it!

Monday, December 24, 2018

The Christmas Story

Luke 2 New International Version (NIV)

The Birth of Jesus

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

Jesus Presented in the Temple

22 When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”[b]), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”[c]
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
    you may now dismiss[d] your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31     which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and the glory of your people Israel.”
33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him.34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four.[e]She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
39 When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.

The Boy Jesus at the Temple

41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”[f] 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

Footnotes:

  1. Luke 2:2 Or This census took place before
  2. Luke 2:23 Exodus 13:2,12
  3. Luke 2:24 Lev. 12:8
  4. Luke 2:29 Or promised, / now dismiss
  5. Luke 2:37 Or then had been a widow for eighty-four years.
  6. Luke 2:49 Or be about my Father’s business

Saturday, December 22, 2018

Volleyball, 2018-2019 Style

Sunday, December 16th saw the kick-off of the current volleyball season.  To kick things off, we had a round-robin tournament in Cedar Rapids (Hiawatha, to be truthful) where the boys would get some good playing time.

I am still amazed at how much I like watching volleyball and it's no different this year!


Don't know if you can spot the ball in the photo, but it's in the the upper right quadrant of the pic on the arms of the only dude with a red shirt on that side of the floor.  That's Caleb.

A shot from the upper seating trying to show the breadth of what's happening in male volleyball.   Pretty impressive!

A shot of the 14U's who participated on this day.

A shot of all of the boys in every age group who played on this fine day.

After the games were over it was time to head to Big Grove Brewery for some KILLER Brussels Sprouts and some beer!  

Friday, December 21, 2018

2018 Gingerbread Houses

It's that time again. Time for the annual decoration of gingerbread houses initially started by Grandma Marlene.  My sister Dianne has picked up the proverbial torch and had created the gingerbread houses that we all decorate.


















I don't have much to say, so I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Thursday, December 20, 2018

Caleb's First Band Concert

At the end of Caleb's 4th grade year, the school hosted band tryouts.  Caleb was successful in the percussion area of things and once he got home, he let EVERYONE know it!

And that event brought us to Tuesday night, December 18th, when they had their first band concert.


The full width of the kiddos! Can you find Caleb?  He's in the back row, third from the left of the photo...  you can kinda see part of his shirt and his face, but his black hair is hidden by the dark curtain behind him.

A little better shot where you can actually see the boy.

Another wide shot while the kids are playing their rock and roll!

A shot of the moon once we got back to our house from taking Grandma home.  It's a terrible picture but kind of documents what it looked like that night.  There were about 6 distinctly colored rings around it, which you can sort of make out here.

Saturday, December 15, 2018

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Schmitz 2018 Vaca, Post 4 - I Want To Be A Part of it, New York

I hope you weren't expecting much, because we didn't experience much!!

What's even more (really, less) impressive than that is that I have no idea which road we were even on!  I was just following instructions of the map reader and therefor I can't really describe our feeble pics of New York other than to say, we'll go back at some other time and experience the true New York City.

This was not the vacation for that.


Look at that impressive skyline!


A little bit better...

...and...  the best it's going to get!  That's as close as we got to NYC and frankly, from the traffic that we experienced going around it, I'm ok with that!!!


Next up will be Boston, which is where we were trying to get to from our day in Philly.   I promise more pics and great times that we had there.

Saturday, December 8, 2018

My Happy Helper!

After my neighbor helped (read: did all of the hard work and heavy lifting) replace the battery in Grandpa's Rendevous,  Caleb helped put the brace bar back in place and do some wrenching to limit my bending over as working on cars is VERY bad on my back.

Friday, December 7, 2018

Got'cha Day... and Night

The official "Got'cha day" supper which was only Dad and Caleb since Momma had to work and Robby had confirmation on this fine evening. 

As such, I let Caleb pick what we do for the night.  To the surprise of nobody, he picked eating sushi at Cool Basils!  Fine by me as we had to run to Menards to get some new filters anyway.


Before we took Robby up to confirmation, Rob had a gift for Caleb.  Turns out that during a home education course in Junior High,  Rob sewed Caleb a new pillow case in the color's of the Seattle Seahawks.  Caleb was, and still is, enamored with Rob's sweet jesture!


Caleb and I up at Cool Basil in Altoona.  Spring rolls are afoot!


Sushi has arrived!!!


Someone ate too much!!


We had to pick up Robby at Church around 8:20 so after we went to Menards, we had a few minutes to kill.   We went to Brightside Aleworks in Altoona where I had a wonderful new beer, and had high hopes to resume our Connect Four series of battles.  They did not have Connect Four available so we played Checkers instead.  This picture was after Calebber beat me and is telling me to take the "L".

Thursday, November 29, 2018

A Real-Life Cindy Lou Who


Robby's got himself a real-life "Cindy Lou Who" from Whoville!!  And don't play dumb either, you know who I'm talking about.

Cindy Lou Who, that's who!  Picture snagged from DragoArt.com.

She seems quite captivated by the lad.

Friday, November 23, 2018

Schmitz Thanksgiving 2018

Thanksgiving means a bit more every year as the people who attend get thinner and thinner as life delivers blows as only life can.

A major part of living is dying. We do not like to address this reality but the reality stares us down like a deer in the headlights and will not waver.

God has promised us an eternity that is far greater than anything we could possibly achieve on this wonderful orb, but yet, we strive and do crazy things to stay here!!!

I'm sure that my opinion will change when I stare the final door in the face and there's no other options but right now, I still wonder why we do this as true believers?

No matter, it was another opportunity to share another brief bit of time with my family.  It was short and wonderful!!!


Robby and I had left by this point, which is why we're absent yet Calebber is present!  Lesley had to work which is why she is absent.


Sonny the beast invades future attempts at pics!


Dave with Shadow and Sonny.


Sonny with my brother Steve and his son, Tim.


Sam and Jonah playing RISK with a watchful Caleb on the sidelines.


Another year goes by with a few people missing and other facing serious circumstances.  Thankfulness abounds...  we had another year together, but yet the promise of greater things is still there!  

Thank you, Jesus Christ!!!