Automatic Ball Return

Here's a video of how our one-year-old plays pool...

Palm Springs Tramway

Last week, I took Natalie to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway to celebrate our anniversary. Here are some of our favorite photos…

Here’s a view from the base of the tram station. It’s one of the steepest tramway ascents in the world, rising almost 6,000 ft. over a span of 2.5 miles.



Halfway up, we are met by a tram descending on the other side of the cable.



We had a beautiful view looking to the east, over the Coachella Valley and Salton Sea 30 miles away.



We took a nature hike up at the top and some some pretty wildflowers still in bloom. This one is lupine.



Standing at this outlook on the Desert View Trail, we could hear a waterfall and caught this magnificent view of the foothills leading into the San Jacinto mtn. range.



Creek and meadow just a short walk from the upper tram station.



Happy 11th Anniversary, Sweetheart!

Amazing catch

Now this is an amazing catch.



June 28, 2011 Update: So, my brother-in-law just informed me this was a hoax. According to Snopes, the whole thing was staged. That’s too bad. I guess you can’t trust anything online anymore – even a video! I feel a little betrayed. A video goes viral because of an absolutely amazing catch and the near concussion of a reporter. But in reality, the whole thing is manufactured and digitized. If we had known this all along, I guarantee the video wouldn’t have been such a hit. What’s the point? I don’t get it. At this moment, it makes me NOT want to buy Gillette! Sigh.

Hilarious baby video

As some of you heard, Natalie bled a lot more Saturday evening, so we had to take her back down to ER. The doctor did a D&C around 11 pm to clean out her uterus and stop the bleeding. Amazingly, she was discharged about an hour later and we got a good night's sleep. Natalie is feeling much better today.

We'll be waiting and praying this week to see if this solves the problem for good. Natalie has an appointment scheduled for Friday. They think this should fix the problem, but if bleeding persists, she may need a hysterectomy. We certainly hope that won't be necessary, but continue to trust in God. For the moment, all is quiet. Natalie's mom drove down today to help out, which will be really nice the next few days.

After all the drama this weekend, we really appreciated this video. It provided some great comic relief. Enjoy!

20 hour blizzard

Here's a video of a 20-hour blizzard condensed down into just 40 seconds. Photos were taken 5 minutes apart by a photographer in New Jersey. Amazing. I miss the white stuff, but not that much.

Shop at Amazon and support a pastor

Need to do some last-minute Christmas shopping? If you like to shop online at Amazon, you can support my ministry by clicking through this linkwhen you shop.

Just by using the link, I receive a percentage of your purchase. There's no extra cost to you! So for example, if you spend $100 at Amazon this year on Christmas gifts, I'll automatically get a $4 credit. This program is available all year long, not just at Christmas time. Any time you shop at Amazon, use the link, and you'll be supporting my book fund. (An easy way to do this is to bookmark my blog home page, then use the Amazon link in the bottom right corner.)

This past year, I was able to buy two books with my affiliate credits:
The Great Commission Resurgence: Fulfilling God's Mandate in Our Time, edited by Adam Greenway and Chuck Lawless
The Financial Peace Planner: A Step-by-Step Guide to Restoring Your Family's Financial Health by Dave Ramsey

Remember, Amazon sells a lot more than books. They also have movies, music, their bestselling Kindle, computer and office equipment, toys and games, clothing, and much more. I find they consistently have the some of the best prices, especially when you use their free Super Saver Shipping.

Happy shopping, and thanks for reading my annual "shameless plug" to support my book fund!

BOOK

Click the video below to learn about an exciting product called BOOK (Bio Optical Organiced Knowledge device). This is great satire. Could it be that today's smartest technology has been sitting right next to us the whole time?



HT: Tim Challies

Greek & Hebrew alphabet songs

When I took beginning Greek, our "alphabet song" was sung by Bill Mounce to the whimsical tune "Shortnin' Bread." My how things have changed!

Here are two new tunes to learn the Greek and Hebrew alphabets by...

Greek is heartless

Heb hop

HT: Justin Taylor

Visual Latin 50% off

From the makers of Modern Parables comes a great new product called Visual Latin. Here's their announcement...

VISUAL LATIN IS NOW PRE-SELLING!

We're excited to announce you can pre-purchase the first 10 lessons of our new Visual Latin curriculum for only $25! (We won't offer it at this price for long.) If you're a parent who wants your children to have fun learning Latin, if you're a school that needs a Latin teacher, or if you always wanted to know what "habeas corpus" means, this is the class for you.

Kick the tires by watching a complete lesson for free at VisualLatin.com. And please forward this email to friends who would be interested. Even if you think you'd never want to learn Latin, go watch the first lesson (it's only 7 minutes): you'll get a few good laughs. Or download the four free intro lessons now.

 What exactly is Visual Latin? Their blog explains...

It’s a combination of short videos and exercises that work together to teach your children (or you) Latin. The curriculum is designed so that it requires no knowledge of Latin either by the student or the parent administering the class. Basically, you just hit play and start learning.

Luckiest people on earth

This video is great. A lot of commenters say the last scene is from a movie, but it's still classic.

Stunning eruption photos

Check out these photos of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano eruption against a backdrop of the Northern Lights. Breathtaking. What an amazing world God has created.

Our dove family

We've enjoyed an up-close and personal view of a dove family outside our kitchen window this spring... 

Wed., March 24. Daddy and Mama doves have built a nest in the planter outside our kitchen window.

Fri., March 26. Mama settles in to her new home.

Tue., April 13. Look closely, and you can see a baby dove in the nest with eyes still closed.

Mon., April 19. A proud mama with one of her chicks.

 Mon., April 19. Mama feeds her babies.

Yo-yo man

Dylan took a lot of interest yesterday in a couple yo-yos we have at the house. As he held the string high up in the air and watched the yo-yo spin around, he would say with excitement, "Look Daddy, a trick!" Maybe he will be the next yo-yo man.

Here's a great act by the Smothers Brothers going back to the 1980s. Feel the yo.

A very strange nativity scene

Are we the only ones who find this nativity scene strange? That looks a lot like a mosque behind the stable. But the Muslims didn't exist for another 600 years. This came from a picture story book in the Playmobil Nativity Set. It's a really cool set, but this is a very strange picture.

Boxer puppies for sale

My in-laws breed boxers and just had two litters of beautiful new puppies. Our kids got to play with them over Thanksgiving.

These 7-week-old puppies are AKC, have had their first shots, and are now for sale. The flashy reverse brindle male is already sold. There are 6 female and 4 male still available. If you know of anyone interested, please call (559) 903-2569. My in-laws live in central California, near Fresno.

Here are some pictures of the little pups:

Funny names

Natalie's maiden name was Smith. My last name is Jones. So, of course, Natalie Smith became Natalie Jones.

I remember when we were doing our wedding registry at Bed Bath & Beyond (ten years ago now!). The clerk at the counter tried to pull up our profile on the computer.

"What's the Bride's last name?" she asked.

"Smith."

"Hmm. There's a lot of pages of Smith here to scroll through. What's the Groom's last name?"

"Jones," We replied with a smile. Great. Like that would be a lot of help.

Sometimes at our last church (Placerita Baptist), the people would get confused and call me Stephen Smith. They knew a Smith married a Jones, but they just couldn't remember which was which.

My father-in-law likes to tease me that God created Adam with the last name Smith, and that the Smiths are thus superior. But I'm quite content just being a Jones.

We've had a lot of fun and gotten many chuckles over the years about how a Smith married a Jones. But our names don't hold a candle to some of these. Natalie and I got a real kick out of this article...

What's in a Name? Unique Names Raise Eyebrows, Spur Conversation

Do your Christmas shopping and support a pastor

If you like to shop at Amazon.com, you can do four great things at once. You can buy merchandise at great prices; save time and gas; avoid the crowds; and support a pastor (myself) without spending any extra money!

Simply by entering the Amazon website through this link here, 4% of your purchase will be credited to me for future book purchases. (This is the same link as the button embedded at the bottom right corner of my blog home page).

So for example, if you spend $100 at Amazon this year on Christmas gifts, I will get a $4 credit toward a future book. This Affiliates program is active not just at Christmas time, but all year long.

Remember, Amazon sells a lot more than books. They also have DVDs, toys, clothes, CDs, tools, and much more. Happy shopping, and thanks for supporting my library fund!

**I also learned this week about a great website called BlackFriday.fm. They're posting many "Black Friday" ads ahead of time so you can see and compare the best online and in-store sales. Definitely worth checking out.**

Free access to 54 volumes of encyclopedias

Move over Wikipedia. There are some other encyclopedias on the internet available for free access too.

1. Encyclopedia Judaica. The Biblical Studies and Technology Tools blog announced today,

I don't seem to have found a link to this on any of the usual sites I frequent, so it perhaps may also be helpful to you to bookmark this link for free access to the complete, 22 volumes worth, $2263 at Amazon set, 2nd edition of 2007, Encyclopedia Judaica. (That's the link to the entrance page for the Jewish Community Association of Austin where you will find the acknowledgment of the sponsor for this online edition and the password needed to access the site.)

While this encyclopedia covers the whole spectrum of Jewish experience up to the present, there is still a ton of biblical stuff readers of this blog may be interested in checking out. Peruse the hundreds of maps, a 44 page "Land of Israel: Geographical Survey," a 6 page article on "Mikveh," 18 pages on "Aramaic," 6 pages on "Jesus" by David Flusser, and information on virtually any location in Israel or the Jewish diaspora (e.g., Capernaum with a diagram of the synagogue or Corinth or Dura-Europos). To see the maps and illustrations in full size, you will want to download the PDF files instead of viewing the HTML page. You can have the page read out loud to you (!), but more helpful are the download and Citation Tools to help you get the bibliographic data you need. This is definitely an outstanding online resource you should have bookmarked.

2. Encylopedia Britannica. If you're not aware, as a "web publisher," many bloggers are eligible for free access to the complete 32-volume Encyclopedia Britannica online. Click here to learn more and apply.

These are both generous offers. The two sets together offer 54 volumes of scholarly material and could prove very helpful for biblical research and sermon prep.

Swine flu paranoia

I got this by email and just had to pass it along...

An expensive coffee spill

Here's an interesting headline I came across yesterday: "Coffee Spill Costs Community College $200,000." Ouch! Just for fun, which one do you think was the cause?

A) Piano student sues after scalding hands
B) Ruptured water line damages labs and classrooms
C) Computer lab assistant fries main network station

Click here to see the answer and read the full story of what happened at St. Louis Community College.