Piano Lessons with Baby

Biscuit is getting an early start to her musical education.  She obviously has seen how her siblings play...with gusto!  I think we sound amazing together.

Many blessings to you and yours this Christmas season.  May the Lord richly bless you in love and mercy.

~Mr. Pilot

Mr. Pilot's Trip to Guam - Part 1

Well, yes, I was actually in Guam for the past two weeks.  And while the trip was every bit as complicated and tedious as you'd expect, I did manage to get about 2 whole days! off to visit the area.  

This is the view from the hotel that I was staying in.  It's a fairly nice view, and I did go down to the pool (below the picture line) and to the water the first day I was there. Honestly, I was busy every single day after that till next Sunday, and it 'looked' wonderful.  Since I did little more than wade in it, I can't speak for any of its other qualities, but the view was spectacular.

Since I was working so much I only had a little bit of time to 'see the sights', naturally I went to the local yokels...

I'm just kidding...Actually these are the fellow saints I met from Faith CRC on Guam.  A delightful looking group.  They were kind enough to drag along a tourist on their hiking expedition for what we were informed (by our officially 'un-official' National Park Ranger guide, think fishing hat) was not technically called spelunking but cave exploration.  We weren't sure if spelunking technically meant wearing more gear, like helmets???  

spe·lunk·ing

  : the hobby or practice of exploring caves

 HaHa!  

[MOVIE TRAILER NARRATOR VOICE]: Here our adventurers are preparing for an incredible spelunking journey into the abysmal Guamese abyss'sses. 

Unsure of their fates, knowing that God was their determiner, they make preparations to meet the Maker at every turn...

The preparations for this intrepid expedition is about to commence...you could cut the tension with a hankie.

[ADVENTURERS]: Is this gonna be 45min? 1 hour?  2 hours!?!  

[ME]: I better get some more trail mix... 

[NARRATOR]: It doesn't matter if you describe this adventure as spelunking or not!  They bring gloves, headlamps, snacks, and water. Armed with all the trimmings of danger and DEATH!  Prepared for anything...almost.

They fearlessly journey into the pits of doom and despair, never sure if they would return to loved ones again!  

Gut wrenching silence...

[ME]: BOO!

[NARRATOR]: Eerie sounds bellow from the great deeps.

ArrrrgghhhlllassssssppiiiilhmmmmmMMMMM

[ME]: Oops, that was me!  Where's my trail mix?

[NARRATOR]: The view from this perilous cliff could only be accessed by braving some of the most aggressive and persistent blood sucking insects in the galaxy...

Don't be fooled by the look on their faces, they have suffered mental anxiety and physical exhaustion on a level few mortals have ever lived to describe.  It is only because of their fearless devotion to their cause, and desire to inspire comfort in their loved ones that they make a good show despite the proximity to mortal death...

Down into the depths they descend.

Each adventurer knows that the only path to survival is dependent on their ability to congeal into a team.

Down they descend...

Up they climb

And then back down...

And then back up...

oh...

Awkward Silence...

Here they pause to gather themselves.  And tell tales to inspire each other.

It is here that the guide and others tell them that they are actually "out in the boonies"... An urban term to most, rooted in the islands of Micronesia. This is all too familiar territory for our weathered guide, his success in leading numerous parties through the Boonies is only surpassed by his love for the dramatic and dangerous!  Both of which he seeks and encounters on this adventure...(Foreshadowing)

But these explorers have little time to relax and tell stories, important as morale is, they know death is waiting in the next venemous spider's bite.

[ME]: What did you say?

Our undaunted travelers return from the journey through the first of many deadly caves.  There is no turning back now...The only way to salvage a chance at returning to civilization is by continuing on a monstrous assent up the slippery walls of doom!

[ME]:  Hey look...a frog!

The journey has become so hazardous that they must gather food at every juncture, never sure when the next meal will avail itself.

The kids are gonna love this!  Hey guys look, I caught a frog!

Tune in next time for the continuation of:

The Perilous Journey Into and Out Of the Abysmal Guamese Abyss'sesssses

[ADVENTURERS]: Did you eat that frog...?

Thank you, Mr. North!

All right!  (I found out recently this is actually two words, but for some reason had imported the idea that it was one word by my poor english...)

I've been a subscriber to Gary North's free weekly tip web-site.  He is absolutely filled with fantastic Christian ideas, is a strong promoter of biblical economics, is extremely well read, and has written almost too many books for me to absorb, most of which are FREE because he's more concerned about the ideas then about the profit.  For example, Dr. North has been publishing his lifelong project, an Economic Commentary on the Bible, in pdf form, a book per week, for FREE.  He's been working on it since the 70s and it is absolutely filled with good biblical information that far exceeds the economic landscape.  I highly recommend poking around his website.

www.garynorth.com

Anyways, he sent out as this morning's weekly tip, to start a book review site.  Focusing on one author,  that I like, and write a review on all of that author's books.

I love this idea!  It incorporates a few of the things I already love:

Reading books
Sharing a Christian message with people
Using cultural tools to further a biblical worldview

I also really appreciate that this would be a blog that could be useful to someone who really wanted to know what this author is about before getting engaged in more of his work.

My wife already gave me a fantastic author to start with, one who hasn't written 50 books! but would still be interesting to review.

After we both got done watching the Vision Forum conference last weekend, I was inspired.

 I think it would be fantastic to review Joel Salatin.  He's a very interesting author, and he gets a lot of exposure in crowds that don't always run in Christian circles.  Plus, it will give me the ability to promote another Christian's work in a field that isn't receiving much Christian exposure!

Please pray for God's blessing in this new endeavor.

Mr. Pilot

The righteous shall live by his faith!

A couple of months ago (please excuse our lateness in this post), our family, friends and church body were excited to welcome the two oldest children:  Belle and Boy as self-professing believers in Jesus Christ!  They made their profession and we welcomed them through the administration of their baptism.

I was very happy to have the opportunity to give the "Father's Blessing."

I shared with my children the tremendous joy that I have to be a part of their lives, and the job that we share together in sharing our growth in Christ.  I am grateful to share with them the significance of this milestone in their lives, and charged them that this is only the beginning of a lifelong journey, that there would be many ups and downs throughout their spiritual lives.  But reminded them about a famous Puritan preacher, Richard Alleine, who told us that "The World (is) Conquered by the Faithful Christian," and that we are a part of this great battle that is occurring all around us everyday, remembering that we must take up our swords, which is the Word of God, which will give us encouragement and is the most powerful weapon in the hand of a diligent steward of the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ!

Pastor was excited to administer this sacrament to the children, sharing with them, and all the body, the importance of baptism as a public demonstration of God's grace in their lives.  It was a tremendous encouragement to all the faithful.

We were elated to have a fellowship meal the following day, and the family was able to share together their first communion with the new professors also!

We provided a floral arrangement, demonstrating the blessed transformation that we experience, from a mixed bouquet (sinners), through the precious blood of our Savior (crimson roses), to the glorification of a redeemed family of God (white tulips).   The cake also shared one of our favorite verses:

For by grace we have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. 

Ephesians 2:8

Great Uncle and Aunt were on hand also, making a trip up to our neck of the woods, to celebrate this special day.

We did a little shopping for everyone so we could together share and communicate that we are clothed in Christ's righteousness, and it is by his stripes with which are healed.

May all men everywhere know that the Lord Jesus is able to save any man from his sin, and present them new to himself as a glorious creation forever worshipping his Redeemer, saved by the grace of God.

The righteous shall live by his faith!  

Habakkuk 2:4

February 12, 2012 a day of Jubilee

$0.00

0

($x.xx) to $x.xx

These are some of my new favorite representations of being DEBT FREE!!! That's right you heard me, we are no longer slaves to our own foolishness. As Pa from 'Little House on the Prairie' says: “Only cash on the barrel.”

It has been quite a long and arduous journey for us to finally escape from the spending cycle that we got ourselves into. Many will remember the various extremes that we went through to escape, and there are so many friends and family who helped us along the way. Some helped with payments that had to be made on cars initially, others helped with showing us useful recipes to feed a large number of people. So many people were more that happy to help, when they realized that we were committed to a life of thrift. We really started making inroads to our debt when WE changed, and subsequently our spending desires changed as a result. Of course we still wanted to be able to go out and eat nice meals out in town, or buy some new clothes or games, but it took a diligent change of lifestyle to get the ball rolling.

We had already started on this journey when I read a friends copy of “Total Money Makeover” by D. Ramsey, and he mentioned something very pertinent to this subject. He discussed that money isn't just raw math where we pay off the highest interest rates first and move on down the line till we're done. This might be mathematically true, but its certainly not emotionally true, which, lets face it, is the crux of the matter when we are talking about making changes in the way we spend our money. We of course, didn't like our debt, and we had a budget that we followed...loosely...but we weren't committed in such a way that we were willing to make much more drastic changes to end the cycle of bad spending.

I am happy to report that we did start taking our budget much more seriously, and as we began making steps toward decreasing our debt we realized that this was in fact possible as we started claiming small victories. There were a few times where we felt the need to get fully committed, by taking such actions as: selling off all our “investments”, using our tax return towards our debt, and living in such simple conditions that we could be considered 'wacky' as we kept trudging along. Since 2008 we have paid $75,000 of principle! This includes the travel trailer that we purchased so that we could live at the RV park in Meridian. I don't know if I could figure out how much we paid in interest, but it still makes me sick to think about it.

There were various changes that we had to undergo as a family, and I believe that my wife's commitment to living under a budget was one of the most important aspects of our success. I will allow her the opportunity to share with you “How to live within your budget” so you can get her perspective As for me, I'm grateful that I could cast a vision for the goals of my family being debt free while remaining sensitive to their wants and needs. It's been a tremendous journey, and as we shared with the children, I pray they never go back to being slaves to lenders again!

Here is a link to the working spreadsheet, 'Debt Free Budget', that we used as an invaluable tool to help us set goals and allocate our living expenses while still aggressively paying off debt.

If there are questions about how to use it feel free to ask.

And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. (Exodus 13:14 ESV)

Sorrow and a Savior

Our family has been homesteading across the country these last few years, and we've been largely removed from many of the normal ups and downs a family experiences in it's development. One of these many progressions has finally caught up with us. Earlier this week my beloved wife's grandmother passed away. This is the great matriarch of her family that has born the central role of stability for the family for quite a few decades after severe tragedy in the family many long years ago. She had already buried before her, husband, mother, and several children. My wife's father is now the lone head of the family since her passing. My children had met her several times and we do have many pictures of them together despite the infrequency of visits to the area.

There are many things that one can think about on the passing of a family member. We have already looked at various pictures to refresh our memories of our time together, and my wife has spoken with various members of the family receiving support and offering condolences for our inability to come for a funeral. We want to remember all of the good things that we enjoyed, a proper and a natural function of grief, but we also have the opportunity to review the things that brought us into this horrible mess too.

My family and I had a discussion, over dinner last night, about the cause of our ultimate journey to death. We remembered that death is the result of sin, and that sin has permeated every fabric of the world since our father Adam.

“Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” Romans 5:12

We are all going to die one day, because we all have sin, and sin is a result of our incipient rebellion against our heavenly Creator. Adam brought this upon us, but we are all like him, and will continue to abound in our own way of living because we each have an independent rebellious heart.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9

This is a terrible condition and our degenerating bodies, minds, and souls are the fruit of this condition. The situation is magnified since this rebellion is against our Creator!

“I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” Jeremiah 17:10

Death is the judgement of a holy God against a wicked creation.

Our lone answer comes in the form of a baby, born in a manger, in the town of Bethlehem. A baby whose birth we celebrate in the very near future.

“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

So as we remember the memory of our deceased and the season we rapidly approach, let us remember together our only hope, for:

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29

Blast From the Past!

I saw this picture recently, and wanted to show everyone what part of our family looked like back in 2005.

I know it doesn't seem like that long ago, but when you see these kids it makes it seem like forever ago!

This is going to seem more stark after we show a picture of the three of them together when "Auntie" shows up this weekend.

Blessed be the LORD, my rock!

The ladies are learning Proverbs 31, beginning with verse 25 thru 31, "Strength and Dignity." They actually already have it down, so we're moving onto the rest of the 'Woman of God' section starting from verse 10.

The boys are learning the much more manly focused Psalm 144. I am spending time instructing the young gentlemen that men are to be protectors of the weak & innocent, defending truth & justice, and helping the helpless. They are learning how a man defends ladies, protects their purity, keeps their sisters safe, and treats women as sisters in Christ. It is not common in our culture to encourage boys to learn to fight, and be "trained for war," but it is biblical that men will not go picking fights, yet they will be prepared to stand up for the cause of justice when necessary. I fully expect that these young men will one day be husbands and fathers, and that they will be required to protect their wives, and children.

'But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.' 1 Tim 5:8

Of course, it is not hard to encourage boys to play guns, swords, wrestling, or any other physical activity...they were built for it!

The full text that the boys are learning

Blessed be the LORD, my rock,

who trains my hands for war,

and my fingers for battle;

he is my steadfast love and my fortress,

my stronghold and my deliverer,

my shield and he in whom I take refuge,

who subdues peoples under me.

O LORD, what is man that you regard him,

or the son of man that you think of him?

Man is like a breath;

his days are like a passing shadow.

Bow your heavens, O LORD, and come down!

Touch the mountains so that they smoke!

Flash forth the lightning and scatter them;

send out your arrows and rout them!

Stretch out your hand from on high;

rescue me and deliver me from the many waters,

from the hand of foreigners,

whose mouths speak lies

and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

I will sing a new song to you, O God;

upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you,

who gives victory to kings,

who rescues David his servant from the cruel sword.

Rescue me and deliver me

from the hand of foreigners,

whose mouths speak lies

and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

May our sons in their youth

be like plants full grown,

our daughters like corner pillars

cut for the structure of a palace;

may our granaries be full,

providing all kinds of produce;

may our sheep bring forth thousands

and ten thousands in our fields;

may our cattle be heavy with young,

suffering no mishap or failure in bearing;

may there be no cry of distress in our streets!

Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall!

Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD!

(Psalm 144 ESV)

Here is Pops, showing off his memory verse skills!

Wonderful Healthcare Alternative

I can't even begin to explain how wonderful it is to see Christians stepping up and offering viable alternatives to the myriad of cultural, state mandated, and biblical hypocrisies bombarding our society. It becomes readily apparent that we have serious problems when our government comes up with "solutions" that look like this:

All I can say is, "Yikes!"

No problem...Bloomberg columnist Kevin Hasset summarizes:

The new law creates 68 grant programs, 47 bureaucratic entities, 29 demonstration or pilot programs, six regulatory systems, six compliance standards and two entitlements.

Okay, maybe a big problem. But again then there's Chrisitan's stepping up and creating ministries like Samaritan. You can see a video about such a ministry here. I hope you get a chance to take a look at this and be inspired and encouraged to know that there are many more ways in which we can overcome because as Christ says,

"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Finished Reading!

Hey, so we finished a couple of books recently, that we wanted to talk about. We kinda have a late push to get done all that we can before I start working full time this Monday!

Mom and the children finished King of the Wind. It was the first book in the "History of the Horse" curriculum set. We did a lot of drawing maps, including Morocco, France, and England, while we followed Sham through his adventures. We also are learning how to draw horses from another book that came with the set, we drew several Arabian horses, and I think they were all very satisfied with their improvements.

Mom just finished a Beverly Lewis book, Summerhill Secrets 1, that she got for her birthday. She loves the Amish, and says she wants to be like them. I think she's crazy and reading books about them will have to suffice.

Mom and I also just finished From Playpen to Podium too! It was an excellent Christian book about creating a very communication friendly and encouraging environment. Surprisingly we found that many of the tips they give you for encouraging communication in babies and toddlers are things that we've always just done! Maybe this attests to how quickly our little ones start talking and getting involved. We also like many of the tips for teaching the older children how to start looking at the world around them and actually analyzing it and trying to understand the messages conveyed. We recently did and exercise when my son asked me what a certain billboard was showing. We got to discuss all kinds of things about: Who made the advertisement? What are they selling? How are they trying to sell it? Is it effective? etc... It was an excellent experience.

We'll see how many books we're able to read now that work is back on. Well, I'm sure that mom and the children will be able to continue at a good pace, but I maybe fairly slowed down. Oh, well. We'll keep ya'll posted.

-Mr. Pilot

Debt Free!!!

Hey all,

I hope you all have been encouraged by our family to see how incredibly the Lord is working in our lives. One of the first aspects that always speaks to people when we share our experience, is the financial windfall of savings that we receive! Just to help put into perspective how blessed we've been through this experience, in 3.5 months we've already been able to pay down $7000 of debt and pay off two huge credit cards in the process!!! I know this is very exciting news for many, and I want to help share with you one of the tools that has made this possible.

Some years ago, I took over the finances for our family and, with the help of my dear mother, was able to create an Excel spreadsheet that has very clearly helped me to see the nuts and bolts of where my money was going, and how I could make it work for me. I do also use, "Microsoft Money", but it's budgeting tools have not been nearly as user friendly as this spreadsheet has been. It can very clearly show me where my money is going and how I can put it to best use. It also allows me to see approximately how much money I will have at Christmas and birthday's so I can plan ahead accordingly. It is my sincerest hope that you will take a look at this and use it to help you organize your finances in a new way that may bless you as it has blessed me. Feel free to share this with others and please return and let me know how it has helped, and what I can do to possibly improve it.

I am counting on some requisite knowledge of Excel in order to use this program. Although there is no Advanced Mathematics, you will have to look at some of the "Cell Math" to see what is happening.

Good Luck, and God Bless.

-Mr. Pilot

BudgetHelp

*Edited by Mom to add- if the attached spreadsheet seems overwhelming, please feel free to ask us for an explanation. It is actually very simple, once you become familiar. To start, save a copy to your own desktop and then adjust the Pay and the Personal and Household Bills to reflect your own needs. Then you can start playing around with the other numbers to see what happens. Also notice the tabs at the bottom are sheets to last through 2013...

Once we have the budget set, we take our money out in cash to help us stick to the budget. I use a small file folder (we call it "the green thing") that has labled tabs like Personal Care (that is for hair cuts, clothes, and the like) Spending (for entertainment or eating out) Laundry (since we use a laundromat) Schooling (for books or supplies) Groceries (you gotta eat) and I think you get the idea. It helps me to see what $ I have left and decide if I really want something badly enough to watch the envelop go empty. I also get to see where my money goes because I put each receipt in the according tabbed slot and then review them at the end of the pay period (You mean I spent half our spending money on coffee at the bookstore?) and then we can make changes accordingly.

Hope that helps!
~Mom

Happy Birthday to Mr. Pilot's Mother

My Mom

Mom, you're a wonderful mother,
So patient and so strong.
The many ways you show you care
Always make me feel I belong.

You're patient when I'm foolish;
You give guidance when I ask;
It seems you can do most anything;
You're fitted for every task.

You're a dependable source of comfort;
You're a cushion when I fall.
You help in times of trouble;
You support me whenever I call.

I love you more than you know;
You have my total respect.
If I had my choice of mothers,
You'd be the one I'd select!

Happy Birthday Mom! I hope it’s a great one, I wish we could be there.

-Your Son

On the lighter side--

I just heard a funny joke:

Socialism: You have two cows, the government takes one cow and gives it to your neighbor.

Communism: You have two cows, the government takes both and gives you part of the milk.

Fascism: You have two cows, the government takes both, and sells you the milk.

Nazism: You have two cows, the government takes both and shoots you.

Bureaucracy: You have two cows, the governement takes both, shoots one, milks the other and pours the milk down the drain.

Capitalism: (Of course we understand this one) you have two cows, you sell one and buy a bull!

-Unknown

Happy Anniversary Mom!

Ten Years Old

He brought us together,
not so long ago.
We started this journey,
with love still unknown.

Still He bonded us as one,
A covenant we spoke.
I was still just a boy,
when our love almost broke.

With pain in our hearts,
He took us in His arms.
Fashioning His Spirit within us,
His truth became ours.

Separately He mended,
for our sins were all paid.
Bringing us back to His plan,
showing the family He'd made.

Our lives came into focus,
and a path He had lit.
Slowly we understood,
what all of it meant.

As we've grown from place to place,
I find I love you more and more.
Funny how the better we follow,
so much more He has in store.

So with my quiver increased,
I'm glad I've got you.
Looking for new joys to come,
Oh, the blessings poured out,
since saying:
"I do."

Time for TEA!

Stand up for what you believe in or you’ll fall for anything. Isn’t that a country song?

We recently read a post from a fellow biblical world view poster talking about what we could do personally to be informed about, and get involved with, the current political movement.

As I read this post, I remembered that Mom had forwarded me an email from the local homeschool group about a TEA Party in Jackson. I had only a one day notice, but I was pumped about getting involved from the blog post I had just read. Plus, they were providing free food. That alone almost always draws my family in…

We loaded up and drove the two hour (not quite) drive. I didn’t know what to expect. I had a vision of a blazing hot parking lot full of red, white, and blue homemade posters and maybe even people chanting or something. I was really surprised to see the very nice shady park with people sitting around listening attentively. We pulled up our lawn chairs while our children played in a dried up creek (pronounced crick by my wife) bed while we joined in the listening.

The talks were primarily about healthcare and the infringement of individual liberties. The parties represented were Primary Care Physicians and Doctors, Small Business Owners, Congressmen, and Ordinary Folks. They talked a lot about the massive legalese of the HR3200 (the Healthcare Bill currently being debated). Seriously, they had a copy; it was about 5 inches thick. They spoke about how centralized healthcare will stifle efforts of current Physicians Practiced, Medical Student Retention, and Research and Development. They talked about how making healthcare bureaucratic will make it more expensive (more taxes) for individuals and how it will remove individual choice in people’s health decisions.


The big picture here is there is a lot of mud making America’s vision cloudy. The people of America are being taken advantage of and the devastation is being glossed over. We are frogs in the pot of water. We must jump out before it is too late.

As an American, I encourage you educate yourself on what is happening in the American government. Don’t just listen to the news headlines or your favorite newscaster’s opinions. I know you are busy, I know you are tired. I understand it sounds like a lot of mumbo jumbo. We have to cut through it. It is our responsibility. It does affect us, each one of us. It affects our children, and their children. Race, gender, socio class, and political affiliation are irrelevant here. It is all about the principals.

Make a stand. Read up on what is going on, write a letter, make a phone call, and talk about it.
Go to a TEA party.
Then write a blog post.

-Mr. Pilot

For More Info

I found this quote:
"Skepticism about government is exactly what the Tea Parties are all about. They are named not only for the Boston Tea Party, nor for a memorable scene in Alice in Wonderland, but for the acronym TEA: "Taxed Enough Already." TEA is a truly popular sentiment in America that represents those who think that government is too big, costs too much, regulates too much, and needs to be smaller, cheaper, smarter, and do no more harm. It's a bonus that tea parties remind us the government is a Mad Hatter that is as mad as a March Hare, and that we'd like to knock it on the head and dump it in Boston Harbor."

Why Go to a TEA Party

Info on Healthcare

Mr. Pilot's Baby

Finally, here's the video of the birth. I would have taken the epideral if given the opportunity. It was a beautiful sunny, dry, and hot day in the Fresno valley as I spun around inside a tin can with an incredibly short moment arm (engineering junk for suseptible to vertigo). I'd almost forgotten how painful it all was, but when I look back on the video I remember very clearly, with anguish, that I never want to do it again. Hope you enjoy it, and be glad you don't have to do it.

-Mr. Pilot




you can see what this is all about in my earlier post