Happy birthday Patsy!

So today is my lovely wife's birthday. Let me just say that I have a wonderful and amazing wife! Generally speaking she is the cautious and careful one, while I am the adventurous and cavalier one in our marriage. Yet she still prayerfully goes along with my ideas for our life, which are sometimes harebrained! I will say that she has taught me to plan, pray and consider much more than I am naturally inclined to. She also has a wonder for life that adds such a dimension to our non-conformist way of living! God knew what He was doing when He brought us together.

We have so many wonderful experiences in life as we have blended our strengths together. Celebrating her birthday in an RV is our newest one! What fun this will be as we party in Howard! No I am not baking her cake, I am buying her one. But this is no different than I have ever done. The one thing I wish I could give her this year that I can't - a nice hot and quiet bath all to herself. You know "Calgon take me away." I guess she'll have to enjoy the hot, quiet shower this year.

This picture we took yesterday at the Fort Worth Water Gardens. She is pretty amazing girl, more beautiful with every passing day.

The 39 Clues book series review

This year we started reading the 39 Clues series and recently finished the 10th and last book. We actually got the 2nd book first on CD and listened to it on the Christmas trip from Ontario to Rockford. We liked the CD so much we went back and read the first book and the rest is history.

Hope our reviews help you decide whether to read the books or not. Once again the review is based on a 5 star rating system.

Marty - 4.5 stars - These books are not only interesting and captivating, but they will also help teach your kids geography, history, chemistry, science, archeology, literature, world cultures and a bunch of other good things. These are not written from a Christian perspective, but they do offer some good lessons in morality.

Tanner - 4.5 stars - Basically these books are great. I didn't like the love story with Ian and Amy. The best thing about the books are Dan and his ridiculous jokes.

Patsy - 5 stars - Not only is there a lot of history in it, but by the end of the series it teaches forgiveness and the importance of family relationships.

Blake - 5 stars - This was a very entertaining series. It was full of mystery, action and I liked the characters.

Brendan's dedication

Fish gone wild

Crazy Koi at the Niabi Zoo

the final end battle.wmv

This is another one of Blake's stop motion videos. He is getting pretty good at this, when he takes his time and slows down. Try to overlook his spelling though.

Go Fish concert

Our family had a blast at this free outdoor Go Fish concert in Shannon, Illinois!

Forester Sunseeker tour inside

The inside of Howard our RV. Howard is a derivative of the acronym HOW (Home On Wheels)! We named it Saturday.

Forester Sunseeker tour outside

This is our new RV - can't believe we finally have it! Be sure to check out the inside tour.

Marital bliss

Marriage gets some pretty rough treatment these days. Either people don't want to get married, they try to change God's definition of marriage, or they forsake marriage all together! We were watching the Closer the other night and Lt. Flynn was trying to tell Lt. Provenza that getting married leads to murder!!

Well as I celebrate 15 years of marriage I can tell you that marriage rocks. I love being married! Maybe I am one of the fortunate ones though, I was blessed with an amazing wife! Yes we get on each other's nerves from time to time and we even fight, but I could never imagine life without my wife Patsy. So in that spirit and my affection for top 10 lists I am presenting the top 10 best things about getting married (Warning this may be rated PG 13).

10. Two minds are better than one - when you have a problem another perspective and set of eyes can really help you solve it!

9. So much warmer on cold nights to snuggle with your hunny!

8. More earning power. Whether it be taxes or income or the ability to save money, two people can earn more than one. Yes the expenses are higher, but not in proportion.

7. A happily married couple makes for the best greenhouse to raise well-adjusted kids. Stats continue to overwhelmingly bear this out despite what you might see in popular culture.

6. Face it married people have way more sex than single people, even for those who have no morals!

5. A three-prong cord can never be broken, husband, wife and God together can do the impossible.

4. There is always someone who is on your side. Even when they have to help you see the other side's point of view.

3. When you're sick, you have someone to make you soup and let you sleep.

2. Marriage is one of God's best ways to sharpen us and mold us into His image, if we let Him, of course. Marriage serves as a mirror into our soul, if we are willing to look there. A good marriage should bring us closer to the point of the death of our self.

1. God created marriage before the parenthood, the church, and all other institutions. Marriage was here before taxes, football, Walt Disney World, the Bible, sin, death, pain, the United Nations and is a fixture of every culture in the world. It is one of His greatest gifts to humans, and it helps us become less selfish and self-centered, if we let it change us. It is a picture of God's relationship with His people.

Creation video

Blake. with some help from Tanner with the clay models, made this video as their first school project of the year. Their little brothers have been studying Creation through My Father's World Creation, so this was their part in helping their little brothers help learn about the Creation account in Genesis.