What We've Been Up To...

I know it's been a while since I've posted... Once more I have to apologize for not being more consistent with this poor little blog.  We have been very busy (when are we not!) and have made quite a bit of progress.  We are fully moved into our new house now!

Here are a few pictures that Savana took, showing some of our recent activities.

This was a great accomplishment for Bo- chopping down a tree, by himself, with his ax!

He and William cut it up with some help from Colin, a friend from Canada who's down for the winter with his family (they go to our church when they are down here).

Blog Poll Results

Well, the results are in- what is the favorite topic for me to post about?

First, I want to say thank you for voting!  It has encouraged me that there really are more things that I can post about which will be interesting to you.  Thank you for the encouragement!

And now- the results....

What Would You Like to See Me Posting About?

Family Life

Book Reviews

Short Stories

Essays/ Articles

22% voted for Family Life,

22% voted for Book Reviews,

44% voted for Short Stories,

and apparently I must have worn out everyone's patience with my Creation vs. Evolution posts, because 0% voted for Essays/ Articles (if it had been up to me though, I would have voted for one of the others too!)

So, thank you so much for voting!  I will be posting (more frequently I hope) about all the above topics which were voted on.  I think the first post will fall into the "Family Life" category, as I'm planning to do one about moving into our new home.  After that, we'll see what I feel most inspired to post about.  :)  So please, be patient, and I'll try to do a better job keeping up with this blog!   And thank you all for voting!

2012

     I know this post is a bit late, but better late than never.

     As R. M. Ballantyne says, "life is checkered".  This past year has been filled with blessings, surprises, sorrows, joys, disappointments, dreams, and plans.  There have been some big changes too.  I'll just briefly cover a few of the things that have happened, or are soon to happen.

Blog Poll

So, what would you like to see me posting on my blog? (Sorry I post so infrequently.)  I've put a poll down at the bottom of this page, and would really appreciate it if you would take a few seconds to vote.  Part of the reason I haven't been posting much is because I feel that I just don't have a whole lot to post on here about.  That's why I put up all those Creation Debate posts.  Anyway, please let me know what you'd like to see on here!  You could also leave a comment (after voting) to tell me why you voted what you did.  I would love to hear from you!
I'm working on a very belated New Year's/ catch-up post, so that should be coming along soon.  Thank you for having patience with me!

Creation vs. Evolution: Part 6- So How Old is the Earth?- Conclusion

Creation vs. Evolution: Part 5- "Bones of Contention"

(Taken from the AiG website...)

Z: Fossils and common descent. This is one of the most controversial topics, whether they prove or disprove evolution. “When objections are raised about ‘evolution,’ the object of concern is nearly always the concept of common descent. Common descent is the proposal that all organisms, living and extinct, are connected by an unbroken series of ancestor-descendent relationships to a single ancestral life form by a process of descent with modification. 

Creation vs. Evolution: Part 4- Survival of the Fittest and Sin

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Z: Survival of the Fittest. One of the basic terms in the evolutionary process. Basically meaning, “Whoever was the fittest survived.” (Not hard to understand, is it?) My question to you is, why, if God knew that different species would fail to survive and become extinct, why did he even create them in the beginning? If, like the dodo, animals would die and never be seen again, why did God even let those animals come into existence? “Extinction—the complete dying out of a species—is a normal occurrence in nature. Most species that have ever existed are now extinct.” (Encyclopedia of Animals, p. 22) Why did God allow those animals even to survive? Unless he, in evolution, just let some parts of it go wherever it took those animals, perhaps God changed it a little bit to make it better, but then left that family of animals to then die out? If we take the literal view of creation, why did God create those

animals that had no chance to survive?

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Creation vs. Evolution: Part 3- The Dinosaur Debate

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Z: In these next four paragraphs I will cover topics that have everything to do with how the world was created and the aftermath.

Dinosaurs:

     Some of the most interesting animals to ever walk the earth—for about perhaps 2,000 years, if you believe what the Bible says literally. God created all reptiles on the fifth “day” then he killed them off in the flood, many literal creationists say. But, in the encyclopedia, it says that they ruled the earth for about 140 million years.

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1 X 1 = 3?

Anybody who knows anything about math will tell  you that 1 x 1 does not equal 3.  But then, most people don't raise goats.  For, you see, in the goat world:

Update

Well, nothing really new here at S.C.H, except that Mr. Schmidt finally got a package that was sent like three months ago.  A quick tip, if you want to send anything to Haiti, don't send in in a package!  Send it with a person on an airplane as luggage or something.  This package was a MESS.  I won't torture you with the details, but it had been opened, and most of the stuff in it was ruined.  It was really kind of sad.  Oh well.

     Miss Betty seems to think that the world revolves around her.  It is obvious that she's never been disciplined till she came here.  A good example is mealtimes, when she always trys very hard to eat her bib.  We can't feed her while her bib is in her mouth, and we eventually had to start flicking her on the hand.  She's getting better now, but until yesterday, whenever she was flicked (or sometimes (to borrow Jo's words) "if someone cast a look upon her" that she didn't like) she would open her mouth and give a yell that sounded like she was saying "Oooooooowwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!"  It a

Day at Legoland

A couple weeks ago, our family took a fun trip with some friends to Legoland, a theme park in the Orlando area.  It was a lot of fun, and Savana took many photos of the day.

     We left the house before 7:00 AM, so that we could get through Orlando before rush-hour traffic.  For a special treat, Daddy took us by Dunkin' Donuts, and picked up some donuts and coffee for us.

     In a parking lot a short distance from the gate, we met our friends who invited us to come.

There were a few minutes of greeting and chatting, then we loaded back up and headed over to the entrance.

The entrance was pretty elaborate.  We had to wait outside for a short time while Mr. K. got the tickets for everyone.

Daddy grew up near several amusement parks in KY, and the K's did in Orlando, so they took us straight to the roller-coasters, knowing that later on there would be long lines in front of them.  Savana still found time to take a couple photos of Mini-land on the way there though.

The detail they put into everything was amazing.

A beautiful waterfall that was part of the old Cyprus Gardens.

Left back:  Farrah, RB: Justice.  Left front:  William, RF: Sean K.

I went on this roller-coaster, and immediately remembered how much I dislike them.  Unfortunately, it was almost identical to the very first one I ever rode (which was, with one exception, also the last) and which gave me a seemingly permanent fear of them.  I am not a roller-coaster fan, but later that day Farrah and Evan persuaded me to ride another (an old wooden one- couldn't help but wonder what would happen if one of those old timbers broke...) and all the way home it felt just like I was riding one.  It was sort of fun though...

The "Flying School".  (I didn't go... the first roller-coaster was enough for me at the time.)

Evan with his new car  :)

After the Flying School, we were off to the Driving School, and then the Boating School.

All the Lego creations were amazing.  It must have taken a lot of time to put them together.

This was a play are designed for younger children, but we all enjoyed shooting each other with the soft foam balls.

We had a tasty picnic lunch on the grass just outside the entrance, since we weren't allowed to take coolers into the park.

Russell gravely dissecting his sandwich.

After lunch, everyone headed to the large merry-go-round in the front of the park.  We all rode it... (Someone had to take care of all those little guys ya' know!)

Then we went to the greenhouse...

Then the "Island in the Sky".  It was slightly terrifying... Especially when I heard that it "has been a feature in the skyline for over three decades."  150 feet in a rotating pavilion on the end of a boom arm is higher than I cared for.  But the view was neat.

Later, Mama, Farrah, Savana, Russell and I walked over to the old Cyprus Gardens section of the park.  It was beautiful.

This was an enormous banyan tree, planted by the first owner of the place.

After we left the park, our friends took us out for pizza, and then it was time to say goodbye and head home.  We had a great day, and spent it with some great friends!

Creation Debate: Part Two- Evolution is Incompatible with Christianity

Here is part two of the Creation Debate series.  I hope you find it helpful!

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Z:  If we reinterpret the "six days" of creation into time periods, perhaps, millions of years going on during those, "days" then we see that the scientific point of view, that the earth is old, (once more, that idea doesn’t fit the evidence, and evolution isn’t real science) is completely logical from a Christian standpoint.

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