Do You Really Believe That What You Believe is Really Real?

Today, before the sun was up, we drove up to Focus on the Family. There we joined about 34,000 other people from around the country going through training to be small group leaders for the Truth Project. The seminar was video simulcast from here to over 100 other locations in North America, including one in PEI, one in Alaska, and one in the Bahamas. This was an exciting, inspirational and intriguing way to spend a Saturday. We can't wait to see what develops and what God does as we put our group together after the holidays.

Del Tackett, the primary instructor in the Truth Project series, is an amazing speaker. We thoroughly enjoyed his talks, and are excited to share the videos and lessons of the Truth Project with others in our family and community. Watch this website after Christmas for details!

Watch this video

My bro-in-law sent this to me, and I found it so profound, I had to post it to.
Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4fe9GlWS8 to view the video I am talking about.

The Dustbowl leads me to Cowboy Poetry

As some of you know, Lori and I did a lot of reading about the Dustbowl this summer. Did you know thousands of people died because of it? Did you know cattle and horses died, too? Did you know it took place in Eastern Colorado, as well as the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma? And it was arguably the first obvious human caused natural disaster in the U.S.? The scars on the land still exist today in some parts of the Texas and Oklahoma panhandle, and the tumbling tumble weeds we sing about actually came to our country as an alien species precursor to this disaster.

As we drove back across the country after visiting Michigan, we crossed the Oklahoma panhandle, and even saw some of the places mentioned in the book. Lori took these photos there, too...

One of the books we read was called The Worst Hard Time, and was excellent. A friend of mine from school, Carolyn Shaw, had recommend it to me, and then Lori picked it up and read it first (Imagine that!) Then I got started on it.

Children of the Dustbowl was another good one we read, with the kids. Wesley is now reading Dust for Dinner in his third grade class at school. And my personal connection to it, through my family, is that my maternal grandparents left western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma in the early to mid 1930's to move to California. The suffered prejudice as "Okies", which you can read about in Children of the Dustbowl. The first two books are great personal histories, with a lot of oral history woven in, and are easy reads. (I am sure the third one is, too, since they are reading it in third grade!) Anyway, I have been inspired to learn more about this time in our nation's history ever since, and have discovered a love for cowboy poetry, too.

Here is one site of a Cowboy Poet which you might like. She writes a lot about the Dustbowl...
http://www.cowboypoetry.com/janemorton.htm

Turning to Face the Wind and Dad's Tractor are two of my favorites. Check it out!

And no, in case you were wondering, I haven't bought pointy toed boots, or even a Stetson hat. But I think I am a cowboy, or at least a country boy, somewhere in my heart! Yee-haw!

Lawn decorations

Anna took these pictures today of some of our forest friends visiting our front and back yards.

McCain Rally

We saw a chance to help our kids appreciate and understand the campaign and election process yesterday, when John McCain and Sarah Palin came to town. We waited in line for almost an hour to get in through security, and took our place on the tarmac at the airport with about 12,000 other people. It was sunny and warm ( actually, hot...whew!) and we waited from 11- 12:30 for the candidates to appear in the jet center hanger in front of us. When they finally did show up, 30 minutes late, we couldn't really even see them from where we were. However, the experience was inspiring, just to see that many people come together on short notice to support common values, express hopes and reaffirm beliefs. It was interesting to listen to people in line talk about what they were there for, and how, for many of them, adding Palin to the ticket swayed them to have hope for the leadership and future of our country again.

The airplane picture was taken before the rally began. The others were taken during the rally. You can see how far we were from the actually podium, and we thought we had gotten there fairly early. We learned others had been there since 6 a.m!

We know of course, that ultimately, what happens to America is not in the hands of its leaders or the people, but in God's hands. And we thank Him for that! And we pray for him to continue to bless and protect our nation for another generation.

Fair Weather

Last weekend was beautiful here...so we went down to the State Fair in Pueblo . This has been an annual tradition for us almost every year since we moved to Colorado. We took Jen & Joe along again this year, and had a great time!

We rode rides, ate "fair food" and saw lots of animals and arts and crafts exhibits. And it wasn't too hot, either.

Here Joe watches as Anna & Lori go up on the Ferris Wheel.

They even talked me into going on some rides. Anna, Wes & I went on the "Arctic Blast" for starters, then moved on the "Scrambler."

We also saw lots of animals...everything from this prize winning Hereford bull to goats, rabbits and horses. And, of course, Anna took 100's of

pictures like these!