My Promise Part 2: An Evening of Strange Events

I return to take everyone back to the events of three weeks ago. For this I actually brought my camera along and took many pictures. They are date stamped so that I can remember what happened when. The events that transpire took place the evening after the concert.

For a little bit of background, I believe that I had to work, although I am not positive about that. Phillip and Kat, my brother and sister-in-law, spent a large portion of their day working around Mom and Dad's house and the church. They then went over to my brother's house to spend time with them. This was because the order of events was reversed due to unforeseen circumstances the day before. This is where it all began.

I called Mom and found out what was going on. I then called my Anthony, my other brother, and he invited me to join him and Bridgette, his wife, and the others at the pizza parlor. Not one to pass up a chance at pizza (or a good time with my family and friends either), I made sure that I was there on time. The problem was that I then had to wait. This is what happened from their in pictures.

Incredible pizza in the evening where all of the games began. This is the beginning of the entertainment.

The problem was that I had time on my hands as they thought that we had more time than we did. Once we found out that time was going to be shorter to eat than we thought, they got on their way. Anthony and Phillip went to pick up another Anthony. As he is a few years younger than my brother, he is known as Little Anthony. In the mean time, I had plenty to occupy my attention.

I sought a sign that I was in the proper location. Here is the sign I was given.







The parking lot was fairly full. I was waiting for the everyone.

I thought the cloud formation was interesting. (Simple minds/Simple pleasures)

I enjoy watching clouds. Especially when they are like this. They shift and change constantly.

'Here Come the Wives' Kat and Bridgette. Kat is on the left and Bridgette on the right.

The distance of people and objects in these pictures are not as far or as close as they may appear. (I love the focus function on my camera.) The good times have started already.

Kat was willing to sit and wait. Bridgette and I preferred to stand around.

Bridgette on the move while waiting. This just goes to show that you can be moving and not going anywhere.

Kat was looking at something. We put our time to good use and conserved energy for fun and frivolity.

Unfortunately, I had to go by batteries. I told the girls that I need to run to Dollar General, which was just down the strip from here. However, I said that I needed 'dilithium' batteries. For those of you who do not get the joke there, dilithium is a substance that aids in the powering of starships in Star Trek. This produced a much needed round of laughter.

I do not know how Little Anthony is going to eat considering he was becoming insubstantial. Mine is the empty chair across from him.

Little Anthony was thinking a deep thought.

Little Anthony trying to use his hand to defeat a camera taking his picture. The current score: Camera-3, Little Anthony-0

Phillip is making a 'point'.

Kat is very focused.

Bridgette is focused on pizza.

We then went to play the games that were in the back. There were two games of laser tag played, but I do not have any pictures of those.

No they are not Pentecostal. They sure can pass for it though. They belong to an old fashioned Holiness denomination that has its headquarters here. I shall post more about them at another time.

After they closed, we everyone went over to Anthony and Bridgette's place for some more fun. This included a game of Catchphrase that lasted until after 0100 in the morning. Little Anthony was taken home by Anthony, and I took Bridgette to her house. After the others arrived, we had another guest who came for a time.

This is Nick. He pretty well rounds out those of us who can be called the 'youth group'.

After the games, we all went to our rests to get ready for our very first 5th Sunday. But that will have to wait until I post part three a little later in the week.

As always, stay tuned for my next update. In the  grace of goodness and grace of Jesus Christ, good night.







My Promise Fullifilled: Part 1 (My Brother from K.C. MO. is in Town)

I apologize for the lengthy title, but it was the only one that I could come up with. I also apologize for the length of the post. However, I have a much to say, and many words it will take before the story is told.

My brother and sister-in-law, Phillip and Kat, were in town three weeks ago, 7-29-2011. For reasons that I no longer remember, I did not actually did not get to see them until that evening. I had planned on joining them and my parents at my parent's house. However, this did not work out. I did not get to see them until almost 1800 (I love the 24 hour clock, makes life easier).

Mom, Dad, and I had been planning on seeing a concert put on by Ernie Haase and Signature Sound Quartet. Well, we decided to see if Phillip and Kat would like to join us, and Anthony, my other brother, had to work that night, they decided to change plans and join us at the concert. This worked out very well, but I did not get to see them until shortly before the concert.

I arrived at the River Center, the facility where the Adler Theater is located, and started looking for a parking space. I finally found a parking space in a parking lot between two buildings and right in front of a dumpster. Not my idea of a preferred parking space, but not wanting my car to be towed, I thought that it was safest to put it there. There were none of the signs saying "Car will be towed" or "Do not park". I then called Mom and Dad and guided them into a spot right  behind me. When we exited our vehicles, I got to see my Phillip and Kat for the first time on this trip.

We then entered the River Center, and I guided everyone to the Adler Theater as I had been there twice before. While waiting for Dad to finish getting our tickets or something at the box office, I met a lady who had give my brother piano lessons. After Dad finished we moved into the foyer of the theater and proceeded to study the merchandise that they had for sale.

I had asked quietly told God that I would like our family to be seated with that of my brother's former piano teacher. They belong to an old fashioned holiness denomination that has its headquarters and a number of churchs in the area (I will discuss them in greater detail at a later time). I then did not even consider it for several minutes until we walked to our seats. As we approached our places, I discovered that my prayer had been answered. We were in fact seated right next to them. The lesson here: Always pray knowing that Jesus hears and will give you the desires of your heart if it is not contrary to His will for you.

We then enjoyed the concert, and it was better than I anticipated. It was a good show, and everyone had a lot of fun. I very quickly regretted leaving my camera at home. That is the reason that I have no pictures to post. After the concert, we made our way to the tables, made purchases, took a picture of Phillip and Kat with the group, and then adjourned to my parent's house for more fun and laughter.

This is the conclusion of Part 1, and I will try to post Part 2 later today or maybe tomorrow. I apologize for the length of the post, I hope that you enjoyed it and will keep reading.

Until next time, this I Jonathan signing off.

Republican Debate in Iowa

I have not forgotten that I am going to post concerning the events of the last few weeks, but I have only a brief time to post tonight. I followed the Republican Presidential debate in Iowa tonight, and I thought that I would share my thoughts.

I tuned in at 2035 (8:35 pm for those who do not use military time). At that point the debate had been running for nearly half an hour. I did listen to all of the debate that I could catch, even though there were some 'technical difficulties'.

I have been a supporter of both Mitt Romney and Michelle Bachmann, but was rather disappointed in their performances tonight. Ron Paul showed that he should not be allowed to be President by his reluctance to use our power to protect our interests. John Huntsman might as well not even have been there for all that he contributed. Tim Pawlenty weakened himself by attacking Michelle Bachmann, while failing to show how he was any different than the her, Cain, Gingrich, Romney, or Santorum. Herman Cain delivered a strong stand for conservatives, and performed very well. Newt Gingrich also ended the debate on a very strong note, much stronger than he went in. Rick Santorum also did well for the amount of time he was given, and managed to look like more than another generic candidate.

The losers in the debate tonight:

1) Michelle Bachmann-After the New Hampshire debate she quickly moved into competition with Mitt Romney. The reason that she lost this time was because she spent more time defending herself from Tim Pawlenty rather than taking control and forcing him to defend himself. Her worst moment came when trying to respond to another Pawlenty jab and gaining a houseful of boos. Also her not being in place coming back from the break did not help her either. Her best line of the night concerned how she would submit to her husband while President.

2) Mitt Romney-He did not do horribly in the debate, but he did not really seem to have any luster about him either. He seemed to largely stay out of the way and let others tear themselves to shreds around him. His worst line of the night concerned the similarities between his healthcare plan as governor and Obamacare. His best was when he took a stand for marriage being one man and one woman.

3)  Tim Pawlenty-He failed to show how he was any different than any of the rest on issues of specific policy. He also did not seem to have much in the way of passion for the debate other than trying to get at Michelle Bachmann. He appeared to be a conservative with all of the personality of a block of wood ( although I have seen blocks of wood with plenty of personality). There were not really any good points that I found, although I agreed with him on most issues. He had nothing to grab the attention.

4) John Huntsman-He was the only one with less energy than Tim Pawlenty. I would rather watch a sloth, slug, or turtle than listen to him. They at least go somewhere. The most animated that he ever got was defending the raising of the debt ceiling and civil unions for gays. Both of those issues sink him as a candidate before any other issue. He earned, in my estimation, the dubious distinction of being the most lifeless individual on stage.

He did not quite lose, only because he seemed to appeal to a generous portion of the audience, but Ron Paul is not going to win the nomination. There were many good things to say about him, and just as many to shut him down. For a very intelligent man, he possesses many incorrect beliefs about the way our foreign and domestic social policy should be run. He blames America for the threat of Iran, and believes that they have the right to develop nuclear weapons. He does not wish for us to project any aspects of power in our interests or those of our friends. He is also in favor of allowing each of the 50 states to set social policy on abortion and marriage. This makes him unrealistic and dangerous to all who are social conservatives or concerned with foreign policy.

The Winners

Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, and Rick Santorum all came out of this debate looking good. Gingrich still has about as much chance as a snowball does in Death valley at the height of summer, but he articulated the conservative position clearly and with power. Rick Santorum displayed his social conservatism as well as a fine grasp of the dangers associated with Iran and China. These came into play as he opposed Ron Paul on matters of policy. Herman Cain came across as also having paid attention to the threat from Iran and having an incredible grasp on our financial situation.

I just thought that I would post my thoughts and perspectives up tonight. I do not know how the straw poll will turn out on Saturday, but I anticipate sharing more with you then.

Good night, or good morning, and God bless.

Trying to get everything together

I know that it has been more than a week since the last time that I posted. This is due to having been very busy over the last several days. I have worked 12-16 hours a day, been in church, with family, or car shopping every single day. It has not left much in the way of time for posting  on my blog. I do have additional updates from my brother's visit, as well as the story of my car shopping adventure, and finally the family reunion that I was at last Sunday. I do not know if I will be able to post again before Thursday, but I hope to bring everything up to date starting then at the latest. Forgive me please for the delay, and I will post everything in due time. I appreciate your patience very much.