Rehearsal Dinner with Jackie

Jackie drove up to Lafayette on Friday morning to help her family cook pork chops, prepare a meal and serve all the people that rehearsed for Austin and Hannah's wedding the next day.

On Thursday night, I was up until 3:00 AM making some final touches on a video for the reception on Saturday. A video was completed a week before the event, but that was not quite up to Jackie's standards. I complained a lot, but the finished product was worth the effort.

After getting up for work at 5:00 AM, I got home early at 4:30 and packed the Jeep so that Becca could get off the bus at 4:45 and get in the car so we could get to Lafayette by 10:00 PM. Considering all the sleepless activity leading up to the drive, we are very fortunate to have made it all the way without stopping.

We arrived at the Best Western to find that we were sharing the hotel with the Michigan football team and I was encouraged to find out that Jackie had worn out her nieces who are much younger than I am.

It was very good to see family working hard together to celebrate the union of two people that represent hard work. Austin is a man of the soil and Hannah tends to animals. Throughout the course of history those trades have been synonymous with hard work.

It was only fitting that we wear ourselves out for them.

Even though Heidi and Bethany were exhausted, they rose early in the morning to help their color challenged Aunt Jackie pick out a new blouse to better match the rest of her outfit.

They worked well together and enjoyed the day.

Three month sprint

For the last three months, I have been completely consumed by multiple projects at work, watching the kids play volleyball and football and working to support their teams. During that span of time, Jackie and I have had to put several relationships on hold.

One of the most difficult for me was the Monday night prayer group. We have also missed out on adjustments to the small group that we attended last summer.

After our nephew gets married this weekend in West Lafayette, we should be back to some of the "normal" levels of participation in the church.

One of the lessons I learned during this unhealthy sacrifice is that neglecting a home is an expensive downward spiral. I have about four weeks of vacation that I will be applying to home repair at the end of the year.

The Shack

Mike Brady read a book while he was on vacation and recommended that we all read it. I'm only about a fourth of the way through it, but it does grab a hold of you.

Girls of '83 gather at Lori's House

Six graduates of NorthWood High School gathered at Lori's house in Texas this summer.

The temperatures soared above 100 degrees but the girls stayed cool in the pool and the shopping malls.



Jackie didn't talk much about the trip but the pictures of Lori's ranch looked vaguely familiar to me.

Inflatable Kayaks

While Jackie was making arrangements for rafting the week before we left, she was confident that Adam and I would like to kayak down the river.

Seeing how cold my feet were on Monday, I couldn't imagine how miserable it would be spending a few hours with the bottom half of my body immersed. On Tuesday night, I had several conversations with the kids trying to convince them that we should really do another trip on a different Tsali trail instead of kayaking.

Boy, was I wrong. I had no idea how comfortable a wet suit could be. Once equipped with the proper gear, Adam and I actually had to splash water onto our legs to cool them off as we drifted down the Nantahala in our Fast River inflatable "fun-yaks".

Jackie, Carmen and Becca all served as kayak chasers in the van. Adam and I could always pick them out on the shore for a couple of reasons. (1) Jackie's laugh is hard to stop and hard to miss. (2) Jackie couldn't figure out how to turn the flash off when taking pictures from the shaded shore.

Afternoons tubing down Deep Creek

After a morning of some sort of biking, hiking, horse back riding, running, rafting or other form of exercise, we enjoyed the 20 minute hike up deep creek and the 40 minute trip down.

I put this off, because I don't like getting wet and it seemed pretty passive, but it really was fun. However, the second afternoon that we went, I volunteered to be the photographer because it gave me a chance to run on the trails and climb up and down the river banks and rocks cautiously avoiding the snakes that Carmen always reminded us about.

Oddly enough, Carmen was the only one to see a snake the whole trip. It was here in Deep Creek and the black water snake was too close for her.

Adam thought the use of a stick for pushing off rocks would help him get down the creek faster. He really worked on some creative ways to ride his tube. This particular shot shows him going backward over a two foot falls. While waiting for the family to get to this spot, I saw many people injure themselves doing backrolls on rocks.

Riding, Riding and River's End

On Tuesday morning, we separated the family based on interests and ability.

Adam, Carmen and I rode the Thompson loop which is south of the Murphy branch and the Mouse branch trail. We rode it counter clock wise so most of the technical work was going up and most of the speed was coming down the old logging roads in the sun. It was a nice ride even though we had to race under time pressure.

Jackie and Becca rode horses at Nantahala Village while we mountain biked. We dropped them off, drove 15 minutes to the Tsali, rode the loop and packed up the bikes and 15 minutes back to Nantahala Village by noon.

After we picked up Jackie and Becca, we went to the River's End restuarant at Nantahala Outdoor Center for lunch. After lunch we sat briefly in the sun, resting and watching other people get cold and wet below us.

Adventurous Fast River Rafting

Jackie reserved a green raft and a "guide assisted" trip down the Nantahala on Monday afternoon.

"Guide Assisted" meant that we got to follow a boat that was "Guided". This was very important to Jackie. We had to stay close so that she could ask the guide questions in order to get her money's worth of the extra $7 that we paid for the "Guide Assisted" tour.



We really enjoyed this afternoon even though our feet were numb by the end of the trip. The water that is released from the bottom of Fontana lake to generate the controlled flow of white water was pretty cold.

Tsali Recreation Area

While most people prefer to vacate or amuse, my favorite thing to do on vacation is to recreate. The Tsali Recreation Area provided an excellent place to do so.

Mountain bikers from around the world come here to ride their $4,000 mountain bikes but we didn't ride as much as they do.

If you added up all the cost of all five of our bikes and helmets and tools for packing and maintaining bikes on a trip, we might be able to reach half that amount, so we felt really good about our decision to start with the easiest route on Sunday.

The whole family rode "together" on a 4 mile portion of the right loop (Blue) on Sunday. Adam led the way and I brought up the rear making sure that everyone made it safely. There was great disparity in the rate at which Adam traveled and the rate at which Jackie traveled.

So much disparity, that we believe Adam and Carmen reached the 3.5 mile mark about the same time as Jackie and I reached the 1.5 mile mark. Becca was somewhere in the middle.

Jackie and I conquered the mountain air with lots of stops and walking up steep portions. We then found Becca at about the 2.5 mile mark, and forged ahead until we reached Adam and Carmen at the 3.5 mile marker where the trail split so we could all ride down the last half mile together.

Lands Creek Log Cabins

We all headed for the south side of the Great Smoky Mountains for vacation this year. It saved on gas and other expenses associated with vacations like eating out and other entertainment.

We stayed at Lands Creek Log Cabins just North of Bryson City and loved it.

We arrived on Saturday afternoon and unloaded all our mountain bikes, clothes and snacks and climbed to the top of the hill to sit on a swing. Carmen, Adam and I road bike a little that afternoon and it didn't take long to find out that Carmen would need new brake pads if she was going survive all the trips. We went to town to buy groceries for the week and Adam grilled some steaks for supper.

After supper we watched some of the sunset from the porch, but later moved to the picnic table to play Phase 10 near the campfire.

Jackie wanted a campfire every night in order to have s'mores. We all enjoyed the warmth and light it provided as the sun went down in the thin mountain air.

In addition to having clean air to breathe, we also enjoyed some breathtaking purple mountain sunsets when a mountain storm wasn't blowing through. It was amazing to me how easy it was to start a fire with all that wind and I now understand how lightning strikes on a dry mountain can start a forest fire. Wind...

Rob and Sue and everyone at Lands Creek have done a marvelous job of positioning each cabin to be private for the family but sharing the same great sunset and ridge top views. We stayed in the Bobcat and loved it for a family of five.

Eighth Grade Graduation

Adam graduated from 8th Grade at LTMS. He was one of several students that were honored with the Presidents Academic Achievement award given to students meeting the President's criteria for all three years of middle school in terms of grades and in standardized testing.

He really enjoyed his social studies class because he got along with his teacher, Mr. Holliday (pictured on the left at graduation). I'm glad that this happened. We all need to understand and appreciate history if we have any hope of enjoying the significance of the presence and the impact of our decisions upon the future.

In addition to receiving the president's award at graduation, Adam also was chosen for "Best Hair" in the year book. We are so proud.

After a busy summer of baseball practice, games and tournaments and overlapping football practice for Tates Creek High School, we are sure that Adam will hit the ground running at Tates Creek High School.

Becca's Birthday

Becca got her ears pierced for her birthday this year. Emily went with her to the store to make it more like a party.

After the ear piercing party, Emily joined us all to watch Becca blow out the candles on her cake and open a few gifts.

Although Becca was hoping for a cell phone and expressing that hope often, she was thrilled with the volleyball net that is fun for the whole family.

She was excited about the ceiling fan that she opened up. The one in her room hasn't worked for quite some time.

The present that she opened with the most expression was from Emily. She picked out a pair of ear rings for her to wear after the long, long waiting period with the earstretchers that she got at the ear ring store.

Happy Mother's Day

Just yesterday, I finished trimming all the bushes, shrubs and trees around the house and was wondering what to do with the Bradford Pear.

As I was mowing the lawn, I was looking at the weight of what was left of the tree and decided that the tree was going to end up on the house one day if I didn't have a tree service come take it out.

Last night, I told Jackie that we were going to lose the tree and that we needed go ahead and get it removed.

This morning, while we were at church, or while we at Tony Roma's celebrating Mother's day, a thunderstorm took care of getting it down, placing it directly on the deck.

When the family walked into the kitchen after lunch, they thought some fast growing ivy had grown up on the deck while we were gone, but quickly ruled that out as something that only happens in the movies.

I've been wanting to open up the deck for several years, so I guess this will give me a summer project. I already had one project in painting the deck, doors, and other trim to match the new window color. I need more projects.

I saw it as a project, but Adam saw it as a chance to invent a new game called "tree diving". He's in the picture if you can find him. We all thought the "tree diving" game looked fun until I realized that each dive was applying more pressure to Jackie's azaleas.

Resolution of Craftsmen

I'm currently reading "The Craftsman" by Richard Sennett.

I read tonight about the conflict between the designer and the craftsman that occurred in Peachtree Center in Atlanta. The problem was that the designers used CAD to plan the whole thing and never visited the city to know it was hot outside in the summer. The community of craftsman fixed many of the remote ideal design flaws, but they couldn't fix them all.

I found it quite ironic that I struggled for a week with a very similar issue within one of the office complexes there several years ago. Overall, the combination of design and craft worked well there.

So here is Richard's section on conflicting standards, one of my favorites so far:

What do we mean by good-quality work? One answer is how something should be down, the other is getting it to work. This is a difference between correctness and functionality. Ideally, there should be no conflict; in the real world, there is. Often we subscribe to a standard of correctness that is rarely if ever reached. We might alternatively work according to the standard of what is possible, just good enough-- but this can be a recipe for frustration. The desire to do good work is seldom satisfied by just getting by.

Thus, following the absolute measure of quality, the writer will obsess about every comma until the rhythm of a sentence comes out right, and the woodworker will shave a mortise-and-tenon joint until the two pieces are completely rigid, needing no screws. Following the measure of functionality, the writer will deliver on time, no matter that every comma is in place, the point of writing being to read. The functionally minded carpenter will curb worry about each detail, knowing that small defects can be corrected by hidden screws. Again, the point is to finish so that the piece can be used. To the absolutist in every craftsman, each imperfection is a failure; to the practitioner, obsession with perfection seems a prescription for failure.

A philosophical nicety is necessary to bring out this conflict. Practice and practical share a root in language. It might seem that the more people train and practice in developing a skill, the more practical minded they will become, focusing on the possible and the particular. In fact, the long experience of practice can lead in the opposite direction. Another variant of the "Isaac Stern rule" is : the better your technique, the more impossible your standards. (Depending on his mood, Isaac Stern worked many, many variations of the "Isaac Stern rule" on the virtue of repeated practice.) Linux can operate in a similar fashion. The people most skilled in using it are usually the ones thinking about the program's ideal and endless possibilities.

What's up with Carmen

Last Sunday afternoon, I spent what seemed like hours watching Carmen polish off the last few kinks of parallel parking so that she could pass her driving test during the week. She was "fearing the worst" like a good student or athlete, but it was hard for me to see any "hope for the best" coming from her even though I knew it was there.

She has now taken to the streets, driving herself to two volleyball practices and I'm hoping that this will take a dent out of our gas expenses with less running around for Jackie.

This weekend, Jackie and Carmen headed to Louisville for a volleyball tournament. They stayed overnight with Alice and Sierra. Carmen and Sierra are playing for the same TEVA 16-3 volleyball team and have lots of history to share together even though they play volleyball for different high schools and haven't spent much time together for the last eight years.

Prior to playing volleyball, Carmen and Sierra performed in some of Jackie's musical performances at church, as I recall, Sierra was a louder singer than Carmen but both were outstaged by Adam's antics.

Years before digital cameras, Sierra attended some of Carmen's birthday parties and those pictures are available to be scanned some day.

Expelled

Our whole family just got back from the movie theater where we enjoyed Ben Stein's movie.

Well, enjoyed is not really accurate. I was absorbed. Absolutely absorbed.

Adam, Carmen and Anthony got bored with it before the end, but Carmen kept answering questions out loud with her opinion throughout the movie well past her boredom stage so I know she didn't disengage completely.

I'm not sure where Becca stands on her review, but I'll figure that out in the next few days.

If you have an active brain, you need to watch this movie. If you believe in freedom, you need to watch this movie. If you believe in education, you need to watch this movie. If you are under 20, you may be bored with Ben Stein's pace and dry humor, but go anyway.

I just looked at his blog and apparently there are many people that feel strongly about his views and the movie: Ben's Blog

After third round, Cardinal chances still looking good

An alert reader revealed the fact that I was not counting Ohio, Illinois, Virginia and West Virginia in my Cardinal stats. Each of these states share the Cardinal as their state bird along with the ones that I have lived in: Indiana, North Carolina and Kentucky.

Welcome Xavier, WVU and Kent State to the Cardinal stats.

We know that at least one Cardinal will fall today when Louisville plays UNC...

	Third Round	Teams Left	Remaining Teams
Cardinal	33%	4	Louisville, UNC, Davidson, Xavier
North Carolina	67%	2	UNC, Davidson
Ohio	50%	1	Xavier
Kentucky	33%	1	Louisville
Tennessee	25%	1	Memphis

	Wins	Losses	Penetration
Big Ten	5	4	R1: Indiana R2: Purdue R3: Wisconsin, Michigan State
SEC	4	6	R1: Kentucky, Georgia, Vanderbilt R2: Arkansas, Mississippi State R3: Tennesse
West Virginia	2	1	R3: West Virginia
Indiana	3	4	R1: Indiana R2: Purdue, Butler, Notre Dame
Illinois	0	0
Virginia	0	0

Second round strips Indiana of its State Bird

I'm not sure how Butler, Purdue and Notre Dame all ended up losing in the second round, but they did. Butler's loss to the only remaining SEC team was particularly embarrassing.

I had lunch with a UofL graduate today and he seemed to think Louisville's chances in the tournament were unrelated to their Cardinal status. We'll see.

	Second Round	Teams Left	Remaining Teams
Cardinal	50%	5	Stanford, WKU, Louisville, UNC, Davidson
Kentucky	67%	2	WKU, Louisville
North Carolina	67%	2	UNC, Davidson
Big Ten	50%	2	Wisconsin, Mich State
Tennessee	50%	2	Memphis, Tennessee
SEC	17%	1	Tennessee
Indiana	0%	0

Indiana University let me down yesterday

I went to bed last night with great confidence the coachless Indiana University Hoosiers could come back against the champion of the SEC conference, but was disappointed this morning to find that they couldn't pull it off.

Indiana was the only team in Indiana to lose, and the only team in the Big Ten to lose. Indiana and Kentucky were the only teams in my "Cardinal Connection" group to lose.

I used to wear a shirt that said I cheered for two teams: "Purdue and whoever plays IU", but last night they really let me down.

I'm still a believer that this is the year of the Cardinal. Eight teams left... but I think the second round could give the state of Tennesee a chance to move up a few notches in this list.

	First Round	Teams Left
North Carolina	100%	3
Cardinal	80%	8
Big Ten	75%	3
Indiana	75%	3
Kentucky	67%	2
Tennessee	50%	2
SEC	50%	3

Adam heads to Washington

Adam left Thursday night on a school field trip to Washington, DC. They drove all night and had a tour of the White House on Friday morning to start out a three day weekend. Adam's Uncle Keith planned on walking down to see him on Friday but it was raining.

The two of them hooked up on Saturday: Adam in DC

As I read Keith's blog about him buying Adam an Oreo McFlurry, my mind raced back to the evening that we spent with Keith's friends during 2001. That evening, Adam made chocolate milk shakes for about 10 people and climbed all over everyone. I think he thought he had about four extra Uncles.

In 2001, Carmen was tougher than Adam as she demonstrated by wearing shorts on a cold day.
In 2001, Adam's hair was the same length as his Uncle's.
2001 was only seven years ago....

Six Lanes of Slush around Six Flags, St. Louis

I made a trip to Rolla, Missouri on Tuesday to speak to the Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society at the Missouri University of Science and Technology and the interview some candidates on Wednesday morning. As I headed around the Southeast side of St. Louis, the traffic crews closed the roads while they cleared trucks off the hills near the Six Flags exit of I-44. I migrated my way around several tractionless trucks and stopped at the St. Louis Bread Company to have lunch and read 300 emails that had accumulated in the first six hours of my trip.

Bradford Pear: Designed to break

While we were in Nashville a few weekends ago, there were strong winds there overnight. Apparently those same winds made it to Lexington on Sunday morning and pruned a Bradford pear tree in our back yard.

It took Adam, Becca and I two weekends to get this cleaned up, but it is done now.

I cut up small branches for Becca to carry to the front yard, but I couldn't get her to stick at it very long. The only way I could motivate her to help was to suggest that she play a game with Buster while moving the sticks.

Adam, on the other hand, motivated himself in a couple of different manners. First, the opportunity to use a hatchet and second, the potential of creating a fire.

The picture on the right side is the "fire pit" after it sat outside a week in the rain. Obviously, he never got around to the fire part.

Now to the question... Why would God design a tree to break?

These trees are the beautiful flowering variety that are found all over the commonwealth of Kentucky. Yet, in every ice storm or windstorm they are the first to go.

We purchased our house with one in the front yard, but it collapsed before we moved in. Inspecting the bark, a neighbor pointed out that this particular branch had started to fall away years ago.

This is the tree that the kids climbed and swung in while they were growing up and I was always telling them to be careful with all the contraptions that they put in the tree because of its weakness.

Looking back on the two weekends of work to remove the branches, I now think I was wasting my breath with the kids. Although these trees were designed to break, knowing that a half damaged branch could sustain that much weight through the torque of many storms, makes me believe there is nothing the kids could possibly do to damage a 20 year old tree with weight or leverage from swings or stands.

I'd still like to keep Adam's hatchet and fire away from all of our things in our yard.

Pictures from Aunt Helen's Photo Album

Cardinal Connections in College Basketball

I've only lived in three states. All three have two things in common, basketball and state birds. This restricts my mobility, but it does give me a unique view of the top 17 college basketball teams in the country. ( BTW, those youngsters at Purdue are hanging in there....)

I think the nation should be watching out for Louisville, they have a multiplying Cardinal factor. The might even get cubic cardinal points if you consider the fact that Louisville has a high concentration of catholic residents.

Rank	Team	Record	State	Cardinal Connection
4	UCLA	25-3	CA
8	Stanford	23-4	CA	Mascot
15	Connecticut	22-6	CN
11	Georgetown	23-4	DC
12	Indiana	24-4	IN	State Bird
14	Butler	26-3	IN	State Bird
16	Purdue	22-6	IN	State Bird
17	Notre Dame	21-6	IN	State Bird
6	Kansas	25-3	KS
13	Louisville	23-6	KY	State Bird & Mascot
3	UNC	26-2	NC	State Bird
7	Duke	24-3	NC	State Bird
9	Xavier	24-4	OH
1	Tennessee	25-3	TN
2	Memphis	27-1	TN
5	Texas	24-4	TX
10	Wisconsin	24-4	WI

Eby Family Heritage

Converting Dad's slides to digital pictures was a lot of fun and I sent DVDs to my cousin Gene Klein. Gene went up to his Mom's recently and took these digital photos of Aunt Helen's photo album.

These photos of my Dad (Kenneth) with his pet cow and my Grandpa (Charles Victor) with his mules explains at least partially why Becca loves animals.

I wish I had a bigger picture of the old mules or workhorses.

Thanks for sharing these, Gene!

Lunar Eclipse

I took a few pictures of the moon from our front porch and something got in the way... I've been assured that it won't block my view again until 2010.

Impact Tournament in Nashville

Carmen will be playing at the Impact tournament in Nashville next weekend. It doesn't look like there is much to do in the area other than play volleyball in what I hear is a very congested matrix of courts.


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College Basketball in Indiana

I've only lived in three states my entire life. All three have a high respect for the game of basketball.

I was born in Indiana where high school basketball was the biggest deal going. High school basketball took a drop down when the IHSAA decided to have 5 champions instead of one.

I moved to North Carolina where college basketball is king. That state has several schools that hold National Championships and the whole state watches college basketball and neighbors align with one of the several choices: UNC, Duke, NC State, Wake Forest, UNCC, etc...

I then moved to Kentucky, which worshiped UK Basketball at the time. Now it seems like the fans are tearing it apart piece by piece.

One of the things that happens in Lexington is that SEC is elevated above every other conference in order to make everyone believe that UK Basketball has a harder time than say a team like Purdue.

As Purdue faces Wisconsin tonight to battle for the top position in a lesser conference like the Big Ten, I thought I would look at the rankings and I noticed that there were 4 teams from Indiana in the Top 25.

It looks like basketball in Indiana has moved from High School to College in the last 20 years.

I wish I knew which teams were in the SEC so I could count them.

	Rank	Team	Record	State
	5	UCLA	21-2	CA
	9	Stanford	19-3	CA
	19	Connecticut	17-5	CN
	6	Georgetown	19-2	DC
	16	Marquette	16-5	WI
	10	Butler	20-2	IN
	14	Indiana	19-3	IN
	22	Notre Dame	17-4	IN
	24	Purdue	18-5	IN
	15	Drake	21-1	IA
	4	Kansas	22-1	KS
	20	Kansas State	16-5	KS
	11	Michigan State	19-3	MI
	2	Duke	20-1	NC
	3	North Carolina	21-2	NC
	13	Xavier	19-4	OH
	21	Pittsburgh	18-5	PA
	1	Memphis (72)	22-0	TN
	7	Tennessee	20-2	TN
	23	Vanderbilt	19-4	TN
	12	Texas	18-4	TX
	18	Texas A&M	19-4	TX
	17	Washington State	17-5	WA
	8	Wisconsin	19-3	WI

Gathering in Columbus

I'm exhausted after a weekend of watching 8th, 9th and 10th graders praise God, learn how to share their faith, share their faith, confirm they dedication to the Kingdom and help each other.

Because of some last minute changes the day before we left for Columbus we added several adults to the trip that had not planned on going. One of these folks was Don Vanzant who is starting a church near Hamburg.

While we gathered in Columbus, I thoroughly enjoyed hearing his testimony, calling and methods for planting a church in an area of Lexington that is exploding.

If you would like to check out his church, please do so: The Gathering I love the name and the people oriented, relationship oriented purpose of a church in equipping the saints.

I would suggest the best way to meet Don would be to seek the truth by attending Bible 101... studying truth is one of the best ways to interact with a stranger because the truth will be a constant in any stage of any relationship.

I hope Tatesbrook will eventually be able to offer some of the same foundational teaching as a part of our outreach to the community around us.

Dare2Share "Survive"

Tomorrow, we will be heading for Columbus for Dare2Share. There are over 30 eighth graders and graduates from Southern Middle School. Some of these teens will be experiencing this weekend training for the first time and some have been there several times.

We will be staying at Beechwold Christian Church. This is the third year that they have hosted a group from Lexington and it is exciting to see the similarities in their vision, the calling that God gave to me when I was a teen, and the theme of this year's dare to share.

It is also exciting to see these friends of my children desiring to know God.

Future Quarterback

This young man was very patriotic in 1971 as he participated in the 4th of July parade in Wakarusa. At this point in his life, no one would have guessed that he would lead his high school football team to a State-Runner up finish and compete with Jeff George to replace Jim Everett in the Cradle of Quarterbacks.

Jim Everett headed for the Los Angeles Rams where he would hand the ball off to Eric Dickerson who later returned to the Indianapolis Colts. Jeff George won the position at Purdue for one year, but then transferred to Illinois.

Can you name this little fellow?

Digital Memories for Keith's Birthday

My little brother will be turning 40 next month and he asked me to go through mom and dad's slides and get them converted to digital for his birthday.

It has been a lot of fun looking at these pictures that have only been projected faintly on a silver screen. With color correction, these memories have come alive.



Happy Birthday Keith!

Read Great Books

While shopping for a Christmas present for Jackie in a bookstore, a book titled "Good to Great in God's Eyes" caught my attention. The subtitle was also intriguing: "Ten Practices Great Christian's have in common".

This book grabbed me from a couple of different angles. The title and appearance were very close to one of my favorite books, "Good to Great" which transformed the way I believe a successive company should be developed over a long period of time.

The subtitle also reminded me of a book I read back in 1992 by Kent R Hughes that interviewed great Christians to see what they had in common.

It also said "Ten" things, which implied there was a list. I love lists.

So, I bought the book to see what Chip Ingram had to say.

In the picture on the left, I put "Disciplines of a Godly Man" on the bottom of the pile to point out the books that I have read after knowing what Godly men read. I put Chip's book very near the top since it represents a second opinion about what men that are "Great in God's Eyes" do.

Note: this is not a complete stack of my favorite books. It's just the top 10% of what I have here in the house. Some of my favorite books are loaned out to friends and some are on a bookshelf at work ready to be referenced.

Here's the list of ten practices that Chip proposes are common to great Christians:

1. Think Great Thoughts
2. Read Great Books
3. Pursue Great People
4. Dream Great Dreams
5. Pray Great Prayers
6. Take Great Risks
7. Make Great Sacrifices
8. Enjoy Great Moments
9. Empower Great People
10. Develop Great Habits

In chapter two, he closes with the following statement attempting to inspire the reader to develop a curriculum of reading.

Books have shaped my perception of God, my confidence in the Bible, my marriage, my ministry, and my relationships with other people. They've done the same for countless other Christians throughout history, some of whom have impacted the kingdom of God on earth quite dramatically.... that's why I'll never regret the practice of reading great books.

As I was reading chapter three, I decided to compare my favorite books with the list that a great person like Michael Card has read. I fall short. I need to read more great fiction and more great history.

A quiet, cold day at home

Today is one of those rare days where no one needs anything right now and there is no noise. A day like that defines all people.

Adam took off yesterday to spend some time with some great people in Hardin, KY. I don't know what Bob will be talking about but the people that gather there are incredibly interesting and I always leave there inspired to be a better person.

Jackie and Becca took off this morning for Nashville, TN with some great people. Emily, one of Becca's friends, invited Becca to go along with her to Nashville while Emily's class headed for Chicago. Looking at the weather this weekend, I think Emily made the right choice. Jackie talked with Carol and just yesterday decided that she would go along to make it a foursome. Jackie and I will be spending many weekends with Carmen at volleyball tournaments in the next few months, so this is some great Becca time and Jackie couldn't pass it up. I'm sure there will be some great Carol time as well.

Carmen will sleep late and be quiet and productive all day long, so there will be peace and order with Carmen. Of this, I have no doubt.

After seeing Jackie and Becca off this morning at 9:00, I shut all the TV's off and read for half an hour in uninterrupted peace.

Appreciation for Mothers

As Jackie hits the job market, I think this video points out why just about any mother that can raise three kids in today's world deserves great appreciation.

I found this on a blog from someone in Kenya, and find it very ironic that I also heard from some missionaries on furlow in the United States from Ecuador that the energy that is required to raise a family in the United States is excessive. (crazy?!)

Somehow, the best mom's have the energy to do this and creatively eliminate their stress and motivate others to do better.

Jackie dusts off her resume

No one needs to get out any tiny violins for us, but 2007 was a difficult year financially. Anyone that has spent any time with me, knows that one of the five biblical financial principles that I teach and live by is "Spend less than you make".

As a Christian, I believe the proper perspective is to be grateful for the income and always address the expenditures since that is what He commands us to do well until God changes the income. That is a hard perspective to teach, learn or live. For whatever reason, I believe that God has a reason for the Eby family to live on less income these last few years and I am grateful for the opportunity for Him to continue to teach us how to do this as a family.

• The kids' college savings dropped to half the 2006 value. This is my own fault for making investment choices that I continue to hope will recover to a point that will be able to help the kids. This is by far the largest financial impact to us and it has been difficult for me to trust God to restore those investments that we have made a little bit at a time over a period of many years. ( I also am wondering if God has intended for our children to work their own way through school as we did. We benefited from that experience, why wouldn't they? )
  
• We had both of our vehicles demand some attention. ( 100K+ miles cars from the 20th century )
  
• In October, we turned around and "suddenly" our daughter was 16 and we will be paying higher premiums for car insurance next year. (50% higher if she doesn't get a car, 100% higher if she gets a car )
  
• In November, we had wind damage to our 20 year old roof that cost us $5K that we had hoped to spend in 2009 or 2010. We thought we could put that off until at least 2008 even after the visible exterior damage but water damage to Adam's bedroom ceiling forced us to action.

So... with each drip, drip, drip of financial events of 2007, Jackie threatened to go back to work, and I pulled equity out of our home to make ends meet. Although this is a violation of several principles, I think it is prudent while we consider more sustainable options that I have suggested like downsizing our home.

She worked full time from 1986 through 1991 as a medical lab technician before having Carmen and continued to work very part time through 1993 before having Adam. When she left the position in 1993, she suspected that she would never get back into medical lab business, but didn't know what new business it might be.

In the first position she has accepted in 15 years, she will be working a flexible schedule at close to minimum wage for a company that makes sure us consumers buy stuff at retail stores because evidently that is something that employees of retail stores don't do. I'm not a big fan of this new job, but I'm grateful that she has taken the initiative and hopeful that it will pay for groceries or gas or the last few years of sports while we trust God to tell us what we should do next.

Favorite Movies we all viewed in 2007

In order to make this list, all five Eby's must have seen this movie during the year it is nominated. There are a few movies that have been nominated by individual Eby's that were disqualified because they were not viewed by all of us.

For example: Spiderman 3, Amazing Grace, National Treasure 2, Alvin and the Chipmunks and other popular movies were seen by some but not all Eby's.

Here is the list for 2007:

1. Ultimate Gift ( Carmen, Mom )
2. I am Legend ( Adam, Dad )
   
3. Evan Almighty ( Becca )
4. Bourne Ultimatum
   
5. Shooter
6. Wild Hogs
7. Astronaut Farmer
8. Deja Vu
9. Blood Diamond
10. Surf's up

Bennigan's Restaurant ( Take 26 )

Every year since 1982, Jackie's friends from NorthWood High School have picked a restaurant in Northern Indiana to meet and catch up with each other between Christmas and New Year's Day. Mark and Michelle picked the Elvis room at Bennigan's this year.

This was one of the smallest groups, but we still had fun.

Fayette County Public Schools listed as #16

As a parent of three students in Fayette County Public Schools and a friend of many teachers in Fayette County, I was pleased to hear that Forbes magazine listed Lexington as one of the top 20 places in America to receive a public education.

Well done, Fayette County!

Forbes Top 20 Public Schools

Educators that attend Tatesbrook that are fighting the good fight in the FCPS:

• Duane Keaton
• Jordan Johnson
• Mike Brady
• Robin Potter
• Ronnie Brock
• Tony Jones
  

Since Jackie and other "stay at home" mom's often receive little performance feedback, I think this would also be a good time to recognize all the volunteers that help make the school systems better in our community...

Oh, we've got "T"rouble

Mothers of River City!
Heed the warning before it's too late!
Watch for the tell-tale sign of corruption!
The moment your son leaves the house,
Does he rebuckle his knickerbockers below the knee?
Is there a nicotine stain on his index finger?
A dime novel hidden in the corn crib?
Is he starting to memorize jokes from Capt.
Billy's Whiz Bang?
Are certain words creeping into his conversation?
Words like 'swell?"
And 'so's your old man?"
Well, if so my friends,
Ya got trouble,
Right here in River city!
With a capital "T"
And that rhymes with "P"
And that stands for Pool.
We've surely got trouble!
Right here in River City!
Remember the Maine, Plymouth Rock and the Golden Rule!
Oh, we've got trouble.
We're in terrible, terrible trouble.
That game with the fifteen numbered balls is a devil's tool!
Oh yes we got trouble, trouble, trouble!
With a "T"! Gotta rhyme it with "P"!
And that stands for Pool!!!

Merry Christmas and a Happy 2008

In lieu of a lengthy letter, this year the Eby's wish you and yours a spectacular season celebrating the birth of Christ our Savior.
( Thanks also to the folks at OfficeMax )