The meetings aren’t necessarily all about homeschooling, more like a support group. Monday night was longer than normal but I learned more this time around thanks to more discussions about actual homeschooling. Even at the “extended” part of the meeting where we hit a restaurant that’s open 24 hours a day and often end up there until after 11, I asked a lot of questions and the fears that I had about one thing or another were dispelled. (His left-handed-ness, the time we spend on lessons each day, skills he should have before finishing Kindergarten, etc.)

I mean, I’m certainly no stranger to the homeschooling. I was homeschooled my last three years and my three siblings even longer, I’ve tutored before, at both junior high and college levels. So you’d think I’d know what I was doing but I guess I still have questions and doubts. I do think we’re on the right track though, so I won’t worry; doubts are to be expected.

This week already we’ve done quite good with the schoolwork. We even did a bit of a science lesson yesterday starting with going through his baby book, showing him the ultrasound pictures and then moving on to another book about babies developing. I think he’s getting away from that submarine idea. However his newest thing is insisting that the babies are dead before being born. Crazy ideas this kid gets, and who knows from where?

And today especially, in Math, rather than work so closely with him, I explained what he was to do then left him to complete the page. For the most part he did well, especially well with the activity of selecting only certain groups of x amount, etc. A little bit less on the identifying of two matching items versus one different. For example, there were three coats, two identical and he was to color the two that were the same. He colored all three. He knows same and different but for some reason had trouble identifying which of the coats was different. But when, on the other page, he had to color the one item that was different he got all of those right. Maybe it had to do with the fact that those items were a car, an airplane, and a truck as opposed to the groups of coats, scarves, and hats. He’s obviously more interested in the vehicles and was more enthusiastic to color them.

At church they’ve started a new thing, a second class for the little kids. If you’re unfamiliar, what we used to have, and many places have, was Sunday School where the kids had an actual class followed by “extended session” during church services where they were basically just babysat. Well our church has taken to doing a second class during that time. He gets a new teacher and everything and it so happens that his new teacher is also my Bible study leader. Monday morning she was telling me how she has a class full of boys and has had to change the lessons to be more active because the boys don’t want to, of course, sit still. She was then saying that Elijah is very smart and that he always remembers the past week’s lesson. He won’t give it up right away, she says, but if she presses him a bit, he will finally answer… without stopping whatever it is he is doing. This further confirms how I felt about that preschool thing: he may have been running around constantly but he soaked up everything they taught. Did I mention he can say the Pledge of Allegiance?

Okay, so not to brag on my kid but I think he’s smarter than I am. He most certainly has an amazing memory, I don’t know where he gets it. I think that the next 18 years are going to be quite an adventure. Both of us will learn a lot and I am going to be challenged with keeping him challenged. But I know I can do it!

Tonight is not my night normally, but they were all having the 4th of July celebration and fireworks at the guy’s house who’s turn it is. So since we opted not to join all of them, I said I’d do it.

This is maybe the 5th time the phones have been transferred to my house. I have never gotten a call, and tonight… I get two. How weird is that?

The first was an older man – I only know it was a man because of the name, not the voice. I couldn’t understand half the things he was saying and the conversation was quite weird. I took down what information I could understand and had to explain to him why I was not “in the office” to look at something for him. I do know that he had mailed something into the church and wanted to know if the secretary has gotten it yet and that he thinks we should get on one of the bigger channels in St. Louis… the NBC channel, actually.

The second was a woman who said she is 87 years old and she just wanted to offer her appreciation, it came with her life’s story… somewhat. She’s one of our viewers from the other station, two hours West of St. Louis. She asked me about the current pastor – is the the pastor now, or still associate? Yes. And what about “the other one?” That makes me want to laugh… He’s fine, I assure her. She’s been watching for the last 4 of our 23 running years, she tells me, ever since she moved to this area and she loves us, wishes she lived closer.

So that was my interesting Sunday night, how was yours? It’s 11pm now, so I can go to bed and any late callers will get my cell phone’s voice mail… I work tomorrow…

As some of you are aware, our editing equipment is old. Some of it is 22 years or more old, in fact!

So we are in the market for brand new, non-linear, editing equipment! FYI: linear editing is basically done on tape, you tape as you edit and that’s what we’ve got now. Non-linear is all done on a computer and the final information is then layed off on to tape (or whatever media you need).

So we spent three hours at Modern Communications (MC) being shown the Avid editing system and having a conference call with the guy in charge of the tv station we air on, to see what media they’ll be moving to soon, etc. At first, I felt out of place because I felt like the MC guy didn’t think I knew what I was diong and was just there for the ride – I am the youngest, the only female, but I am also second in experience. It was only after he left and then came back and heard me asking questions and explaining some stuff to the guys (haha) that I felt like I got more respect. I’m sure he’s a very nice guy, he probably just didn’t know me, that’s all. But when the woman leading the presentation on Avid asked if any of us had any experience with one, I was the only one who knew what she was talking about. When I worked at the tv station, I was there when they got one and the head guy there showed me and the other girl things about it one day. I never got to actually use it (never took the 2nd tv production class) but I at least understood all about it… and it’s not like I’m a stranger to computers to begin with, aye?

So we spent lots of time there going over things, then having the conference call, then having a time where we let them know our needs. They had already quoted us a price in the $15,000 range, but it did not include some of the things we would need. We want to get a fourth camera for going out “on the field” and we have added another fancy deck for DVC-Pro because I made it clear that we want our live-to-tape feed to go right into the computer instead of having to wait another hour and a half while it lays in afterwards. That just takes too much time. As it is, B is there from about 7.30am until we finish editing anywhere from 1.00 to 1.30pm. We’ve been faster lately, getting out around 1 instead of 2 when I first started, etc. The lady didn’t really like that idea, so the fancy deck would also recieve the feed onto DVC-Pro for archival and in case something happens to our feed going into the computer or we need something later, etc. We’ve also discussed the idea of having it go on to VHS while we’re at it. We currently make a VHS of the whole thing and if someone wants to see something, it’s on there, and they borrow it.

We also would need several outputs. The tv stations still currently takes 3/4″ VTR tapes but they might switch to DVD, we need web formats, etc. So after getting this expensive router, we could output to as many as 16 different things at the same time. So, after editing, we could output to the two VTRs, a VCR, a DVD, a DVC-Pro, etc. We only cannot do the web formats at the same time, that would have to be done separately.

Overall, the meeting was great, very informative – we learned a lot. I was afraid at first that B might be nervous about changing editing methods after 22 years, but I think he’ll be just fine, he is quite ready to change all the equipment out. We are ready to make lots of changes – a new opening, new closing, better graphics and transitions, etc. I told him that I have plenty of stuff to practice on. ;-)

But anyway, doing some figuring in my head, I’m thinking our new total is going to be somewhere around $30,000. Though labor costs may be higher than what I am thinking. We have to wait on the head guy to get us another quote for everything then we will bring it before everyone else at a business meeting for voting. I know that we have somewhere between $12,000-13,000 set aside already for repairs, new equipment, etc., so hopefully this won’t be such a big deal. But since business meeting for this month is tomorrow, it will have to wait until at least next month.

So, anyway, needless to say, we’re all pretty excited about this.

Ooooh wow, the lime kiln just blasted their customary 2.45pm blast. Musta been right under us today… felt like an earthquake!

I got a Mother’s Day card from my mother and father-in-law and then one just from Sarah. She’s so sweet! She loves to do things like that.

After all of that, we went home and changed and headed out to Steve’s grandma, his mom’s mom, that lives close. I was surprised when we got there that no one else was there except for two of his cousins. We thought they had all gone out to lunch (earlier than we could have made it) and would be chilling at her house. They had, but they weren’t, I guess they’d all gone home.

So we kind of sat around for a while until Steve’s parents and Sarah got there. The parents of the two cousins showed up soon afterward and we all sat around talking for a bit before we went out to do pictures.

Steve’s aunt had talked to him about this last week or something and she called me Saturday night to ask me if I would take pictures of her oldest son for his Senior announcements.

I guess I did okay with them. I mean, I’ve done better. But I worked with what I had. The lighting wasn’t the best, very bright sun, and the subject wasn’t all that willing. Sometimes a smile makes the whole pictures.

After that we all watched the pictures on the tv and the aunt wrote down which ones she liked; me and Sarah went back to her house (very close to grandma’s) to copy those photos from my 128MB card on to the 32MB and a cd so that their aunt could get prints made (soon) and I would still have my 128MB card for Monday.

Elizabeth was at the house already (why she felt the need not to go to her grandma’s on Mother’s Day and stay home alone I will never know) and though I was nice to her, she was still rude to me. I said “hi” to her and then the dogs were barking at me and I laughed and said that ever since Sheila cut my hair like this, they bark at me constantly (they do!) and when we left I said, “see ya” in a happy way. Yet she never said a word to me. How rude. On the way out, we ran into the younger of my brothers-in-law as he was coming home from work (at least he had a real excuse) and I told him that we were heading back and everyone else was up there (except Elizabeth) and he was nice to me and said that he’d be up in a bit. At least he likes me.

So anyway we went back and fooled around some before we left there and came home. Sarah wanted me to take some pictures of her with her grandma’s flowers and she’s such a little photogenic girl that they came out nice. Plus the sun by that time was behind clouds so the lighting was a lot better. The guys fished in the pond and the older of my brothers-in-law actually caught one that was a pretty good size. We took a photo down its throat. :lol: I tried to take photos of Elijah in front of the flowers but he wouldn’t even sit still for a second.

All-in-all, it was a good day. I didn’t get a card or anything from Steve, but you know, it doesn’t really bother me. I know we’ve been really busy this past week and I’ve spent so much money on trying to make this candle thing work that I’m really not worried about it. It was just good enough to have a good day with everyone. Well, almost everyone anyway.

But, well, I don’t really feel like posting any photos here today, so you will just have to wait for them to show up on my photoblog. I have a RSS feed now, so keep that or get on the mailing list if you want to be notified when I post stuff. :)

Now, whether or not you read or believe the Bible, the story of Jonah is a great one. It’s all about second chances, and even thirds.

In a nutshell, Jonah was a prophet who was told by God to go to Nineveh to preach to them. Jonah said, “ah, no, I think I’ll go the complete opposite way to Tarshish.” While on the ship on his way to Tarshish, a big storm blew up and threatened the lives of everyone on board. The crew decided that the storm was because someone had ticked off a god. They’re all praying to their gods and Jonah is sleeping. They get him up and they’re all, “dude, pray to your God because we’ve tried it with ours and they’re not paying attention.”

The crew, sick of this, decided that they would figure out just who the problem was. So they cast lots (like throwing dice) and the lots said, “hey hey hey it’s Jonah!” So now they’re afraid and they start asking him Twenty Questions. He answers truthfully and says that God is angry because he’s running from Him. He tells them that if they throw him overboard, all the storm will stop.

After trying not to thrown Jonah overboard, they aren’t getting anywhere, so they go ahead with it. Jonah hits the water. BOOM the storm stops. SWISH a big fish eats him. Well that’s the end of Jonah.

Or is it?

Jonah is in that fish (or whale, whatever, I’ve heard conflicting reports) for three days and nights. He prays to God, says he’s sorry, blah blah blah. God says, okay, you’ve been punished enough, you stinky little fellow and has the fish puke – puke – Jonah out on to dry land. Some indigestion, eh?

Face down in the beach there, Jonah hears God again. God says, “now do what I said, already!!!” So – and this is my favorite part – Jonah gets up and runs to Nineveh, making a three day journey in just one day. Oh I love it. Run for your life little man!

(That was the one thing I didn’t like about the movie, that Jonah rode a camel slowly to Nineveh. Of course, maybe if he wasn’t a vegetable and had some legs or something…)

I’ve been told that Jonah would have been whitewashed from being out of any light for days and being surrounded by gastric juices in the fish. So he would have been something none of those people would have probably seen before. Either way, when he got there and gave his message, they listened. They did what he said, repented and turned toward God. And God said, “okay, now I will not destroy you.”

Now, you’d think that after all of this, Jonah would be relieved. I mean, he’s still alive and has a great story to tell the grandchildren, great lessons to pass on. He’s probably quite a revered guy in Nineveh, afterall, he saved their lives/souls, right?

Nope. He’s stinking mad about it. He goes out away from the city and sits to watch the fireworks. He created himself a “booth” for shade. He’s there twiddling his thumbs, waiting for the big explosion show, but nothing ever comes. He’s asking God, “oh please, just let me die!” And you wonder, what is this dude’s problem?

God gives him a gourd plant (now those are neat hehe) for more shade. Jonah is grateful for the gourd plant, but the next day, God sends a worm which eats the plant.

Jonah’s more upset and starts asking God to kill him again. God basically asks him why is he so upset about a plant that he neither planted nor took care of, but yet he doesn’t care about the “more than sixscore thousand” people of Nineveh.

Jonah had gotten his second chance when he wasn’t digested by the fish. Yet, he got angry when the people of Nineveh were offered a second chance.

The “moral of the story,” of course, is that none of us ever deserve second chances. But we are given them so many times and we should see that and be grateful and in turn be happy to offer second chances to others. Mercy and Compassion, say the Veggie Tales.

I love Veggie Tales. :-) :heart:

Oh and how did you like my story? Did you know I used to teach Children’s Church? I was still in high school when I did that at my current church and then when we decided to go to Steve’s church I started doing it there (then became youth “person” blah blah blah).
The kids used to love my stories, especially at the first group where the kids were a bit older and more in number. K worked with me there. They loved it because we used to say things like, “dude” and “big fat fires.”
Ah, memories. Those kids don’t know me anymore, though. :( They’re all so big and I see them around and they don’t recognize me (and it’s funny because two boys that I am thinking of are now friends with my brother and they have no clue).
I’ll never forget the day that the new youth pastor was sitting in on me and K’s class (this was during church service on Sunday mornings) and one of the boys asked point blank and out of the blue, “Val… what’s circumcision?” I don’t even remember how to answer that to a room full of 4th-6th graders…