A Tortured Boy... Or Something.

Calebber had his annual check up with the pediatric doc.  To him it was about the worst thing that could happen, until he learned that he needed a tetanus booster.  

Then he got ridiculous when the doc was running late.  

Why was she running late?

Because she is a fantastic doc who spends as much time as needed per patient regardless of who may be waiting.  We learned that lesson early on when we first brought Caleb to  her.  She rebuilt as much of the 4.5 years that we know little about into his file by asking questions and being diligent... knowing full well that she would have to apologize to families behind us on her schedule that day.

That is our wonderful doctor!

I'll let the pics speak for themselves!

Odyssey Of The Mind, 2018

This is our family's first go-round with Odyssey Of The Mind.  I've had friends tell me about it and it always sounded like a pretty cool opportunity for kids.  A LOT of work, but a great opportunity none-the-less.

I think that is what it was for Robby.  Some sub-set of their group of 7 or 8 people worked on and off for a good part of the school year and on Saturday, April 7th, 2018, they had their state tournament in Ames, Iowa.   

I am not going to comment much on the photos but I will say that I had a great time watching the kids do their thing and the smiles, giggles, dances and sometimes goofiness, all piled together with a great comaraderie was a fantastic thing to see from our youngsters!

And, they're going to World Finals!

This is the staging are where the kids were working up until about 1 hour before their big moment on props and choreography for their dance.

This is inside the room where they perform for the judges.  The paperwork gets turned in and approved/denied outside those doors.  If it's approved, the team and their props move inside the room but must not proceed past the blue line on the floor until they're told to do so.

This is the beginning of their Emoji skit.

Robby is the present.

Their dance choreographed by the tall girl!

This is the kids after their skit, being interviewed by the judges.  They were all well-spoken and handled the judges and their queries like champs!

Certificate!!!

Very proud of all of the kids involved and of their coach, Christie Sanders.   She must have a patience in her that I could never achieve!  

Birdies On Crystal Lake

The birds are hard to see because of the distance, but man, there were thousands of them!! 

They were all hovering right around where the ice and water met.  Some in the water, some on the ice, constant new groups of birds landing, and constant groups taking off.

Truly amazing to witness.

Keep Calm and Chive(s) On

Uh-oh!  After last years 5% harvest of all that was planted, I didn't want a garden at ALL this year.   Today, I brought our kids home plus a few extras I picked up and decided to look at the gardens to see if there were any rogue onions from last year that decided to start their growing season early.  I found no onions but I did find our two plants of Chives happily growing and looking like they wish to own 2018!  Oh sure, we're in for snow tomorrow and another day where we don't get above freezing temps, but they'll be back.  Oh, they'll be back!

The worst part of this is that it makes me excited for the stupid gardens again!  Curse the Spring!!!

I've Got A Peaceful, (un)Easy Feeling

Driving home from work today, I spot a massive cloud of smoke in the approximate vicinity of where our home would be. 

It was much more obvious in real life than it is in the pictures.

This is a good distance out from our house yet, but like I said, it was much more obvious to the naked eye.

A bit closer and definitely more pronounced!

I was getting a bit nervous here because our house is just to left (North) of this road!  On top of that, Caleb should have been home and did not return my calls prior to me leaving work.

Now we're roughly a half mile from home and I can relax.   It's clear that the smoke is WAY off in the distance and beyond our house.  I believe they are probably burning of the Neil Smith Nature Preserve some good many miles away.  Oh sure, if it was a house instead of prairie, it would have been a much darker smoke than this!

Fuzzbutt

Hound doggy the terrorist...   I joke as this dog fit the old phrase, "hell on wheels" as a puppy.  However, she is coming around to being a sweetie. 

And a great snuggler too!

Sweet.

Snuggly.

Sun bathing.

Taking care of her sick boy.

And finally, the terrorist at work!!

He Is Risen!!

Mark 15 New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Before Pilate

15 Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.

² “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.
“You have said so,” Jesus replied.
³ The chief priests accused him of many things. ⁴ So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”
⁵ But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.
⁶ Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. ⁷ A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. ⁸ The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
⁹ “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, ¹⁰ knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. ¹¹ But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
¹² “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.
¹³ “Crucify him!” they shouted.
¹⁴ “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
¹⁵ Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

The Soldiers Mock Jesus

¹⁶ The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. ¹⁷ They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. ¹⁸ And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” ¹⁹ Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. ²⁰ And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

The Crucifixion of Jesus

²¹ A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. ²² They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). ²³ Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. ²⁴ And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.
²⁵ It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. ²⁶ The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the jews.
²⁷ They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. ^{[28] [a] 29} Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, ³⁰ come down from the cross and save yourself!” ³¹ In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! ³² Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

The Death of Jesus

³³ At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. ³⁴ And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).^[b]
35 When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”
³⁶ Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.
³⁷ With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.
³⁸ The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. ³⁹ And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died,^[c] he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”
⁴⁰ Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph,^[d] and Salome. ⁴¹ In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.

The Burial of Jesus

⁴² It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, ⁴³ Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. ⁴⁴ Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. ⁴⁵ When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. ⁴⁶ So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. ⁴⁷ Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid.

Footnotes:

1. Mark 15:28 Some manuscripts include here words similar to Luke 22:37.
2. Mark 15:34 Psalm 22:1
3. Mark 15:39 Some manuscripts saw that he died with such a cry

Mark 15:40 Greek Joses, a variant of Joseph; also in verse 47

Mark 16 New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Has Risen

16 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. ² Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb ³ and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

⁴ But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. ⁵ As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
⁶ “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. ⁷ But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
⁸ Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.^[a]

---

[The earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have verses 9–20.]

⁹ When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. ¹⁰ She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. ¹¹ When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.

¹² Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. ¹³ These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.
¹⁴ Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.
¹⁵ He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. ¹⁶ Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷ And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; ¹⁸ they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
¹⁹ After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. ²⁰ Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

Footnotes:

1. Mark 16:8 Some manuscripts have the following ending between verses 8 and 9, and one manuscript has it after verse 8 (omitting verses 9-20): Then they quickly reported all these instructions to those around Peter. After this, Jesus himself also sent out through them from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. Amen.