Strange Water Leak...

Thanks to Dan (my brother) for this one!

Jennifer and Jim kept getting huge water bills. They knew beyond a doubt that the bills weren't representative of their actual usage, and no matter how they tried to conserve, the high bills continued. Although they could see nothing wrong, they had everything checked for leaks or problems: first the water meter, then outdoor pipes, indoor pipes, underground pipes, faucets, toilets, washer, ice maker, etc. all to no avail. One day Jim was sick and stayed home in bed, but kept hearing water running downstairs. He finally tore himself from his sick bed to investigate, and stumbled onto the cause of such high water bills. Apparently this had been happening all day long when they were not at home. Knowing that few would believe him, he taped a segment of the 'problem' for posterity -- watch...

Amazing Chalk Drawings

Julian Beever is an English artist who's famous for his art on the pavement of England, France, Germany, USA, Australia and Belgium. Beever gives to his drawings an amazing 3D illusion.




Notice everything is fake, including the hose and water!



Look closely…you can see the bricks through the computer screen…


There is no hole in the pavement!



People are actually avoiding walking in “the hole”!





Girl in swimming pool picture - In reality, both his feet are flat on the pavement…


Girl in swimming pool from reverse.


Globe drawing from the side – 40 feet long


Waterfall picture – You can still see the blocks of concrete!

Why God Made Moms...

Answers to the following questions were given by 2nd grade school children...

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He Just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother & not some other mom?
1. We're related
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your mom?
1 . My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms & dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home & dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your Mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my Mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

Benefit of the Bands and Faithful Fans

SoulFire had the privilege this past weekend to be a part of something called "The Benefit of the Bands". It was put on by Cyclone Bible Fellowship and was held at The Lighthouse in Ames, Iowa. The primary goal was to raise money and awareness for Bethesda Outreach Ministries, a Baptist organization dedicated to placing South African orphans of AIDS victims in Christian homes where they have the opportunity to become disciples of Christ. It was also an opportunity for members of the Christian community to demonstrate Christian compassion to a world that views us as bigoted and self-absorbed.

CBF claimed James 1:27 as the basis for their participation: "Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you."

The first band took the stage at 4pm and the last one at 10pm. We weren't on until 9pm so we were able to catch a couple of the other bands before us. The line-up of bands was:

The Lone Strangers
Mike Bosworth
Day and Night
The CBF Trio
Final Pardon
SoulFire
Atombender

It was a really fun night and it was great to hear what other Christian bands are in this area.

And a big THANKS to the faithful from Saylorville Baptist Church who follow us wherever we go! We don't play many "public" shows but when we do it's always nice to have familiar faces in the crowd and these guys have been there. It's nice because it shows us that there are people (outside our families) who are supportive of what we're doing. So thanks guys (you know who you are)! We appreciate it!

A Love Story

This 80 year old woman was arrested for shop lifting When she went before the judge in Cincinnati he asked her, "What did you steal?" She replied, "A can of peaches."

The judge then asked her why she had stolen the can of peaches and she replied that she was hungry.

The judge then asked her how many peaches were in the can. She replied 6.

The judge then said, "I will give you 6 days in jail then."

Before the judge could actually pronounce the punishment, the woman's husband spoke up and asked the judge if he could say something.

The judge said, "What is it?"

The husband said, "She also stole a can of peas."

The Big Winners!

Here is how our Treasure Cake turned out...Jill did a great job of finishing it because I had SoulFire commitments.





And our efforts proved to be worth it all when Tyler came home with 2 awards!!! No one else got 2 awards!! Only MY nephew!! He was awarded the prize for Top Money (our cake went for $31) and also the award for Most Creative. I didn't get the pictures from Jill's camera yet so I can't show you the awards but, have no worries, they will be posted here soon! Way to go Tyler!!

Weekend Road Trip

I realize I left you all hanging with the Treasure Cake but I've had a couple things going on since then! Friday morning SoulFire packed up our gear and headed north to Minneapolis (yah, I know it's crazy). As we drove the temperature began to drop, and drop, and drop until we arrived in Minnesnowta. And the whole time we were there our windows never completely defrosted...nor did we. At one point we were using credit cards to keep the ice off the INSIDE of the windows just so we could see to drive. Madness!! But a good time was had by all!! We don't normally get to "hang out" for a weekend like this as a band so it was really cool. We went to the cities to see Chris Tomlin's "How Great Is Our God' tour and had the privilege, two hours before the concert began, to sit down with Chris Tomlin and Louie Giglio to talk about worship. It was neat to hear their passion for what God has called them to do. During the concert they did an amazing job of weaving together worship through music and the spoken word...and we left with a very real picture of how great our God is!! It felt as though I was sitting at the feet of someone who knew God so intimately that I should record every word. Yet I could do nothing but worship the One they spoke and sang about...

If you've never before heard Louie Giglio speak or read any of his books I would highly recommend getting your hands on some of his stuff. It is very thought provoking and never ceases to bring me into a place of awe before my Creator...

Saturday night we had the privilege to lead worship at a youth fundraiser for New Life E-Free Church in Hastings, Minnesota. And the windows were still frosty... We left Minnesota around 9pm Saturday to head back to Des Moines and the temperature was -2°. But we were heading south!! When we got home around 1:30am it was a balmy 18°! I love living in the south...

Details and pics of the Treasure Cake and auction to come tomorrow...stay tuned!!

Treasure Chest Cake

Tyler and I didn't get much of a start of the cake last night. After we went to the store for ingredients and looked for the "treasure" to put inside the cake it was around 7:30 when we got home. We mixed the cake and it needed to bake in a loaf pan so the baking time was 50-60 minutes...and it was bedtime for him and his brother. So the cake is resting in the freezer until Sunday when it will come out, get frosted and stuffed with the treasure in time for the auction on Monday night.

The picture above is what the cake is supposed to look like. I'll post a picture of what our actually looks like next week.

I'm out of town tomorrow until Sunday so I won't be able to post anything this weekend. SoulFire is going to the Chris Tomlin concert in Minneapolis tomorrow night and then we are playing at New Life E-Free Church in Hastings, MN on Saturday night. Then it's back here to play for our youth on Sunday night. Busy weekend...but I'm looking forward to it!

Back to Preschool...

Yesterday afternoon I go to go to preschool with Lucas. Parents were invited for the afternoon to make Valentines with their children and Jill was home sick so I went in her place. First they invited us into the classroom so the kids could play a song for us on the bells. That's the video above...Lucas is straight ahead in the first chair on the end. Then we were escorted to the gym by our "child" to make Valentines and to look at the other artwork they had made. One was an "Action Painting"...



...and the other was a sculpture...



...and here are the cards he made for his mom and his brother...



...and then he couldn't sit still any longer...he saw several other kids running around so I cut him loose and had a nice chat with one of his teachers.

The best part of the afternoon was when we were getting him in the car. He was opening the door to get in and stepped back directly onto my broken toe...WOW...did that hurt! And today it has hurt almost as much as it did the first day I broke it.

Tonight Tyler and I will start making his cake for the Boy Scout Cake Auction on Monday night. He chose a Treasure Chest cake...stay tuned!

All I Need...

"It's not that I become sufficient - but that Christ becomes my sufficiency."

Weekend...

I had a pretty eventful weekend. Thursday night I cracked my toe against a door frame at my house and I'm pretty sure I fractured my toe. It got pretty purple and black and blue and swelled up...man did that hurt!! Today it's better but it still lets me know it's not totally healed. Friday night my church had a couples dinner and the youth were asked to be servers for the evening. They ended up being a little short-staffed so my friend, Deb, and I showed up to help out. It turned out to be a really fun evening! Deb and I ended up back in the kitchen helping to plate the food. What a process! The after dinner entertainment was a guitar player from Nashville named Keith Cooper. Guitar player is quite an understatement...you just have to go to his website and check it out. Simply amazing...

Saturday Keith gave a guitar clinic that I ended up going to. And I'm glad I did. Although a lot of it left me in amazement I did walk away with some stuff I can work on. And some stuff that I can transfer over into playing the bass...since that is what I do more now anyway.

Sunday morning SoulFire was asked to lead worship for the morning services. We don't usually get to do that so it was quite a privilege for us. Although it was very difficult when the alarm went off at 6:00am... We love what we do and it is still very humbling that God choses to work through us. We are by no means perfect and we have all been through some pretty rough places in our lives. Places that our choices have taken us...but we each have surrendered our will to God and He has given us the incredible privilege to be SoulFire for this time.

Sunday night was the youth Superbowl Party. We had the football game on the big screen and some board games on the table. There was pizza, pop, candy, cookies, kids high on sugar dressed up in their favorite "team" attire, prizes, and a win by the Indianapolis Colts...how could the evening have been better?!