Tuesday, November 30, 2010

It was so nice...

...to stay home all day! I made ice cream and baked bread yesterday morning, so I was able to devote some time today to making several "Thank you" cards to send to the friends I/we visited while on vacation.


Before I could begin making cards however, I decided the card making supplies were far too disorganized (really, they were!), so I took everything out of the storage container and cleaned it thoroughly. After finding a nice basket to put the loose stamps in, I went through the loose pieces of paper I'd saved and discarded the ones that were bent and cut beyond use. At long last, there was a place for everything and everything was in its place. :)

My parents went to Bismarck for the day, so it was just my brothers and I at home. Andrew spent most of the day building up his computer with the new parts that arrived via UPS and Jacob did his schoolwork and then watched Andrew. It was snowing and blowing outside and yet warm and cozy inside, so it was nice to just have a relaxed day without too much going on...

As the saying goes, "Praise God for normal days, for there are far too few of them!"

Monday, November 29, 2010

Brrrrr...It's not so nice out there!

I got home from work in town just a few minutes ago. It took me a while longer to make the apprx. 15 mile drive, as I couldn't see the road some of the time, due to the snow blowing across it so much. It's so good to be home and to know I don't have to go anywhere tomorrow. :)

God vs. Science

This is lengthy, but well worth the read!!!


Let me explain the problem science has with religion." The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.

'You're a Christian, aren't you, son?'

'Yes sir,' the student says.

'So you believe in God?'

'Absolutely '

'Is God good?'

'Sure! God's good.'

'Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?'

'Yes'

'Are you good or evil?'

'The Bible says I'm evil.'

The professor grins knowingly. 'Aha! The Bible! He considers for a moment. 'Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?'

'Yes sir, I would.'

'So you're good...!'

'I wouldn't say that.'

'But why not say that? You'd help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn't.'

The student does not answer, so the professor continues. 'He doesn't, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Can you answer that one?'

The student remains silent. 'No, you can't, can you?' the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax. 'Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?'

'Er..yes,' the student says.

'Is Satan good?'

The student doesn't hesitate on this one.. 'No.'

'Then where does Satan come from?'

The student falters. 'From God'

'That's right. God made Satan, didn't he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Evil's everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything, correct?'

'Yes'

'So who created evil?' The professor continued, 'If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.'

Again, the student has no answer. 'Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?'

The student squirms on his feet. 'Yes.'

'So who created them ?'

The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question. 'Who created them?' There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized. 'Tell me,' he continues onto another student. 'Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?'

The student's
voice betrays him and cracks. 'Yes, professor, I do.'

The old man stops pacing. 'Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?'

'No sir. I've never seen Him.'

'Then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus?'

'No, sir, I have not.'

'Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus? Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?'

'No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't.'

'Yet you still believe in him?'

'Yes'

'According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't exist... What do you say to that, son?'

'Nothing,' the student replies.. 'I only have my faith.'

'Yes, faith,' the
professor repeats. 'And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith.'

The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of His own. 'Professor, is there such thing as heat? '

' Yes.

'And is there such a thing as cold?'

'Yes, son, there's cold too.'

'No sir, there isn't.'

The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain. 'You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don't have anything called 'cold'.. We can hit down to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can't go any further after
that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy.. Absolute zero (-458 F ) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.'

Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer.

'What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as
darkness?'

'Yes,' the professor replies without hesitation. 'What is night if it isn't darkness?'

'You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? That's the meaning we use to define the word. In reality, darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?'

The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester. 'So what point are you making, young man?'

'Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed.'

The professor's face cannot hide his surprise this time. 'Flawed? Can you explain how?'

'You are working on the premise of duality,' the student explains.. 'You argue that there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought.' 'It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing.. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it.' 'Now tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?'

'If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do.'

'Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?'

The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester, indeed.

'Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?'

The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided. 'To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean.' The student looks around the room. 'Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?' The class breaks out into laughter. 'Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain, felt the professor's brain, touched or smelt the professor's brain? No one appears to have done so.. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir.' 'So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?'

Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable. Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. 'I Guess you'll have to take them on faith.'

'Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life,' the student continues. 'Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?' Now uncertain, the professor responds, 'Of course, there is. We see it Everyday. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in The multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world.. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.'

To this the student replied, 'Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God.. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.'

The professor sat down.

If you read it all the way through and had a smile on your face when you finished, mail to your friends and family with the title 'God vs. Science'

PS: The student was Albert Einstein.

Albert Einstein wrote a book titled 'God vs. Science' in 1921.....

Sunday, November 28, 2010

I'm heading for bed right away!

I just got home from work in town. My head aches, I'm getting a cold, and my fish are dying from "Ick" or something... These are the times when it's more challenging to be thankful for things than on nice days like, say, Thanksgiving, when you sit down to a feast with loved ones and name the things you're grateful for.

So, let's see...

  • I'm thankful that it's only a headache and not a stomachache.
  • I'm thankful that I'm home safely and can get some rest and hopefully get rid of this cold quickly!
  • I'm thankful that there was a bottle of medicine (for if your fish get "Ick") in the box that came with my aquarium.

And, I'm thankful for a nice warm, comfortable bed! Sleep well~

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Adventures of the day, and the last pictures from my trip...

The boys and I went outside this afternoon to have some fun in the winter-weather. While out, I took this picture of our building project:
The boys have found a fun way to "Sled" and wanted me to try it too. I fell off twice; pulled Andrew around for a while; then let the boys have their noisy and wild fun while I took pictures....
"Run faster, Millie!"

Oh what fun it is to ride on a one-track open sleigh....sleigh?

Jacob didn't stay on all the time either! ;)

And here's a short video I took of my brothers...

And now, for the rest of my vacation pictures!
Sunday morning, we all got up early and ate a hurried breakfast and got ready for church. Dorena wanted to go early so as to be able to practice a violin song she and Katie (her sister) and the pastor's daughter were playing during the service.
After Bible study and the main service were finished, everyone shared a potluck meal in the church basement. What was really neat was that, the lady sitting kitty-corner from me had baked the cake for the churches' anniversary, so she and I got talking about cakes a bit and pretty soon we put two and two together and realized that we took the exact same cake decorating class 2 years ago!!! :) How funny is that?
After the meal was over, the baskets got distributed between everyone--by way of playing a game about the churches' history. I picked a basket we'd put together the night before, so as to see if our muffins and cookies were any good. :)
After filling gas in Lemmon, we all headed out to Mr. and Mrs. Wiechmanns' place---the place where Dorena grew up.
Just so you know, if you ever want to visit them, you just go on this long, curvy driveway....
...for about 6 miles and then you'll be at their ranch. :)

It was time to start supper when we got to our final destination. Here's Katie (Dorena's sister) cooking up some something good...
Of course, we had to have some group pictures!
(Left to right: Miranda, Bethany G., Mara, Dorena, myself, and Mrs. Wiechmann)

After supper was over, it was time to sing happy birthday to the special birthday girl. Here Dorena had just opened up the present from my mom: a wall calendar with the Psalms on each month. Isn't her hair cute? Her dad did it himself! :)
After watching a neat movie called, "The note" all together in the living room, and after visiting and giggling a lot, Miranda, Dorena and I climbed up in the loft and got a good nights sleep--after some more giggling of course!
The next morning, after devotions, breakfast, and etc...., Miranda and I made the decision to head home, as the weatherman was predicting a lot more snow to come down the following day. We were kind of hoping we'd get snowed in so that we'd have to stay the winter, but that didn't happen. :)
Before leaving though, I asked Dorena for a quick tour of the farm. Mike, a friend of the Wiechmanns who was visiting at the time too, took some pictures for us. :)
~Good friends~
We figured out that Dorena and I've known each other for about 12 years and Miranda and I've been friends for about 8. What fun to all be together!
Little house on the prairie:
This picture was taken over in front of the bunk-house---where the Wiechmann young men used to stay before they were married. It now gets used as a guest house and/or for storage.
One more picture in front of the cute bunk-house--this time with Justy too and Bates (the dog) posing, kind of...
Next, we went to see...

...the chicken coop. :)
Beyond the coop was the pen that held the British White bulls. We walked through their pen to get to the horses...


I believe the brown horses' name was Kind Eyes, but I can't think of the other horses' name...
And this horse's name is DAWN! Dorena offered to take a picture of Dawn and I together so I could show my mom when I got home. :)

Oh, and here is their milk cow...
Right around noon, we made ourselves say "Goodbye". :(
What a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful time we had, a trip to remember always...
As we went back through Lemmon, Miranda tried getting a picture of this really neat sign that's made out of petrified wood, but I was driving while she was taking it, so this is what we got: :)
This wood is only a small sampling of what is in the park just down the street a little ways!
The Wiechmann's friend, Mike, traveled ahead of us for about an hour of our journey, so it was nice to not be all alone on the snowy roads. After about 3 hours of driving, we arrived in our neck of the woods once more. We picked up Molly in town, got some cookie supplies at the grocery store, and then headed out to the Geiger's house. I got to help them decorate about 20 dozen cookies that evening! It actually went faster than I thought it would, thanks to the many hands working together to get the job done. When Mr. Geiger got home from work, we ate a very tasty supper then cleaned up the kitchen quickly and had a time of family Bible reading and prayer. The girls and I stayed up then 'til about midnight, watching "Mrs. Miracle"---a great movie that the G. family had just rented and watched the night before.
The following morning, Miranda and some of her sisters had to get up early and go into town to work, so, seeing as I slept in a bit, I missed telling them goodbye. (Goodbye girls!) I helped the boys with some dishes and a little laundry, played a game with them and Jubilee, then gave Mikayla a hug and headed for home.
I met my folks in Steele, as they were heading for Bismarck, so we exchanged quick hugs and then I went home and got ready for work in town and, after the noon meal, left for work right away. Needless to say, I was pretty tired by the time that night was over, as I'm sure Miranda was too!
Speaking of being tired, I'm tired now and should probably get some sleep...
I hope you enjoyed reading about my/our vacation and seeing it in pictures.~

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanks-giving~


We had a lovely day at home, spent with our family and some extended family from Montana. My uncle Russell and aunt LV came and joined us for our Thanksgiving feast. :)

The pies were all baked,

the platter arranged lovingly,
the stickies were stuck,
and the pilgrims hung carefully...
There were turkeys on windows,

and turkeys on plates...

Hey! If needed, those drumsticks could work well as weights!
At last, the table was filled,
and as we were all "Starving"...
Mom handed Uncle a knife and asked him to proceed with the carving...
And, it was very good! :)
We do truly have so much to be grateful for.........~
"For the beauty of the earth,
for the beauty of the skies,
For the love that from our birth
over and around us lies;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
this our hymn of grateful praise!"




Last Saturday...

We girls woke up early to get the lasagnas prepared and the breakfast eaten quickly, so we could head out in the old pickup truck to round up the cows. It was "Preg. checkin' time" at the grandparents' place. After getting all the cows in, then sorting a few off to sell, the guys (Ethan, Justy, and a neighbor) had things under control, so we ladies went back inside where it was warm and baked an apple pie--with lots of cinnamon... ...and looked at pictures from Ethan & Katie's wedding.

The guys finished with the cows around 12:30 and then we shared a nice warm meal together. After kitchen clean-up was over, and after more visiting, Dorena, Miranda and I headed for Hettinger. First we stopped where Dorena works as an EMT and got some pictures. :)

...Inside an ambulance: (Just in case, like me, you've never had to see the inside of one of these before.)
This is Dorena's little home away from home--her room at the station. It's very cozy and cute! Next we stopped and bought some groceries, mainly things on "Grandma's" list, but amongst them being supplies for a special church project... Dorena's church was celebrating their 101st anniversary and they were hosting a basket exchange. Dorena had told her mama that we'd take care of the baskets for several family members---the total when added together being 16.
Soooooooooo, after buying some hot chocolate packages; granola bars; and muffin mixes at the store, we headed over to the local thrift store to look for some baskets. After quite a search, we found 16 baskets that we all liked and the purchase was made.
After fueling up at the gas station, we headed out to Ben and Ruth's farm.
(Below: White Butte in the fog...) We arrived there around 5:00 and spent the next 5 or so hours very delightfully---mixing up pancake batter; baking a BUNCH of carrot cake in the wood stove; shaking several quarts of cream in a 2 gallon bucket until it turned into butter; making cheese; making a different kind of lasagna; playing with the children; visiting; holding the baby; doing the dishes; sharing a meal; and listening to Ben play his accordion.
Ruth and the newest member of their family, little Hannah...
Miranda and sweet Rosemary... (We thought it was so cute when Rosemary said that she had 3 aunties there, meaning Dorena, Miranda, and myself!)
Ben, Ruth and Dorena practicing to sing in the choir the following day...
We finally tore ourselves away and headed back to the grandparent's place, so as to get the muffins and cookies baked for putting in the baskets for church the following morning.
In between batches, we took our showers and then watched "No Greater Love". By the time this picture was taken, it was quite late in the day and we were feeling rather silly!
Just look at all those empty baskets!
Dorena cut out little hearts and wrote Bible verses on them, then taped the hearts to the hot chocolate packages...
"Hmmmm.... Maybe there's hope of getting these filled before morning?"
At long last, we were finished. It was 2:30AM and we were tired, but happy.
The next morning came way too quickly, but I'll tell about that another day.~

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Our first day in SD, continued...

Upon arrival at Dorena's grandparents' place (where she frequently stays) around 11:00AM on Friday, we were greeted by sunny smiles from our much loved friend. After many hugs and laughs, and then a few introductions, we sat down to a meal of fried chicken, salad, and lemon meringue pie--eating with the grandparents and Ethan and his new bride, Katie. After kitchen clean-up duties were through, and the potato soup was on the stove boiling, Dorena called around to her married siblings that live nearby to find out if we could visit any of them. We ended up going to visit Luke & Amber and their little ones in the later part of the afternoon...

Here's Dorena with her adorable niece, Lucille:

Amos, reading his book (his mama, Amber is on the left and Katie is on the right side of the couch.)
Miranda and I were able to hold the cuties for just enough time to snap a few pictures before they were off and running again...
One happy biscuit boy!

We visited with Amber for over an hour and then Luke came home from fencing, so we visited a little while more before heading for the neighborhood community volleyball game, held in a big building that was right out in the middle of nowhere it seemed. We played several games of volleyball, then ate a potluck meal and had a Bible study. I didn't get more than this picture while there, as I was too busy doing what I was supposed to be doing: playing ball and eating and studying...

When we returned to the grandparents' place, Ethan invited us girls over to their place for ice cream. (Sorry, no pictures of that either. We were too busy giggling...) Even though it was after 11:00, we headed over there very willingly. Several spoonfuls later, around midnight, we girls (including Ethan's Katie) went over to the grandparents' house and watched "The Inheritance". Oh, and the picture below is of when I gave Dorena her birthday gift from me... (The cake was a present as well. :) )
(Below: Miranda--in the tipsy chair; Dorena--cozied up on the couch; Katie--looking on.)
It got to be a late night, but not quite as late as the next night.............
~To be continued~