Florida Trip 09 (Finally!)

OK, so I got back from Florida last Saturday, and I told myself that I would write about it soon. And soon ended up being now so here goes... Ahem.
We left my house at 5 o'clock AM ET. And traveled all day to Graham, NC to stay with the Wells family. I got the scoop on Mrs. and Heather Wells' trip to Honduras. Then, we left the next morning for Florida and got to my grandparents' home about dinner time. While we were there we enjoyed the hot tub and bikes and of course Thanksgiving the next day.
So on the Monday after Thanksgiving we went to Epcot in Orlando Florida. In my opinion, Epcot rivals Darien Lake. There was this really cool ride called Mission: Space.
Before you go on the ride you go into this room where you get briefed and it really feels like you're going to Mars. Then while this awesomely heroic music plays, you go to your positions and are given assignments and are told like three times that if you are prone to motion sickness caused by small enclosed dark spaces, spinning, or simulators you can go. And then when you pull the bar thing over your head, and the doors close, you launch. The G forces are incredible, and if I may say so they ROCK! Eventually, after tons of close calls you land on Mars and are super famous! That was probably the best part of the day, but there were other cool things like the countries of the world, the Test Drive Ride, Soarin', and the Christmas show.
But anyhow we left Florida Wednesday and arrived at my Aunt and Uncle's house in Stafford, VA near DC, at around 8 PM. Then, the next day we went to DC and saw all the monuments and the capital, which left us tired after walking a grand total of 6 miles. Then, the second day in DC we went to the Air and Space Museum and the American History Museum. We saw Lincoln's Hat and Spaceship One and the Ruby slippers (which I found out were fake,because someone stole the real ones) and Kermit the Frog and the Spirit of St, Louis and other cool stuff. And then, we got home the next day after slipping and sliding around through the mush on the roads, at 8 o'clock. I had a ton of fun!

A few days ago I put together a slide show of pics from my trip if you want to look at those. (They should be in the post just below this one.)

Pics of Epcot and DC

Hey everyone! I haven't gotten around to writing about my trip yet,but here are some pictures to whet your appetite! Enjoy!

Nonliteral Interpretations of Creation

So there are a few theories out there that are way off. Allow me to share them with you...

• Gap Theory- The gap theory says that there was a time gap in between Genesis 1:1 and the second verse. According to the GT, there was creation #1. Then after Satan's fall millions of years later, God started on creation numero two. This is just trying to fit the Old Earth Theory and there is no scriptural evidence.
• Theistic Evolution- Simply put this theory states that God used evolution to create the world. The Bible however says that God created by a direct act.
• Long-Day Theory-This theory suggests that each day was a long period, not a literal day. However at the end of verses 5, 8, 12, 19, 23, and 31, there appears the phrase, "...and there was evening and there was morning...". This signifies that the days were 24 hour periods.
• Progressive Creationism- This theory says that the earth is millions of years old and that at different points God created new animals. It also holds to a local flood as apposed to a world flood. Clearly this doesn't line up with the Bible.

COMING SOON: FLORIDA TRIP W/PICTURES!

Evolution: The Big Bang

So in my Biology, we're learning about evolutionary theories. I think that I may end up doing several posts on evolution. The first of the evolutionary theories is the Big Bang theory.

Allow me to compile a list of reasons that the big bang is baloney:

1. The second law of thermodynamics states that "In a system, a process that occurs will tend to increase the total entropy of the universe." A big explosion isn't going to produce better stuff. The stuff will get worse.
2. What are the chances that you can blow up a minivan and get a Mercedes Benz? If you know how to do this please email me! Saying that an explosion creates matter is hogwash.
3. Theoretically when the sun "blew up" it created the planets. But the planets have little hydrogen and helium, plus they don't all rotate in one direction, plus they all have different axises (or is it axi?), plus they have moon that orbit opposite to the way the planets orbit.

Big Bang is Big Baloney! Case closed! If you know of any other proofs that the previous statement is true, let me know! I'd love to learn more!

World Religions and Christianity

So lately in my World History class, we've been learning about all the different religions of the world. And I've noticed some things that make me say, "Hey! Why don't Christians do that?" Now, I'm not saying that I agree with all the practices of these religions(Because most of them totally don't line up with the Bible)but, bear with me and I think you'll see what I mean.

• Vladamir I was trying to decide which religion would be the official religion of Russia. He sent envoys to Muslim mosques,Catholic churches, and Eastern Orthodox churches. Vladamir rejected Roman Catholicism because the services were dull. But he "converted to Eastern Orthodoxy" because the services were vibrant and the way the people acted while they were there. Why don't we do that? Shouldn't our churches just scream to people that we're worshipping God with our whole heart and that there isn't another place we'd rather be?
• Most Muslims memorize the entire Koran. Why don't we do that? The Koran isn't Allah's word or even Mohammed's word. The Koran was written by people after Mohammed's death on what they remember Muhammad saying. The Bible on the other hand was written by God. Isn't that worth memorizing more than a book written by some people writing a book on memory?
• Hinduism is very open to other religions. You can add any "god" to Hinduism, because they are all theoretically a part of the "world soul". This is my question: Why DO we do that? Christianity is so lukewarm! Sometimes Christians can get so mixed up with other unbiblical stuff that it's hard to tell they're Christians. We need to be careful not to fall into that trap as well.
• Confusius said a lot of things. One of them I found interesting. He said, "It does not greatly concern me... that men do not know me; my great concern is my not knowing them." Why isn't that our desire? The more people you know, the more people you can minister to. Thousands and thousands of people don't know God, and you might be the only one to ever tell them.

Now maybe you see where I'm going. Christians can learn from others and pick up their good habits. I'm not sure if anyone will read this, but it's here for someone.

Halloween 09

Hey everybody! Here at Tab(just in case you don't know) we have something we do every year called "Light up the Night". What we do is we set up a large tent out in front of the church. Then, we set up hot dogs, donuts, and cider to hand out to Trickertreaters(if that is how you spell it). And best of all they are FR double E, Free! We ended up giving all of it away at about 8 PM ET, and trick or treating ended at 9. So it was good that we were able to give it all away,but disappointing that we weren't able to give away more. We ended up giving away 600 hotdogs, and like 500 bags of candy, not to mention the cider, donuts, NTs, etc. So all in all, it was a very big success.
However, a bad part was that the next morning we found that both of the church's 15 passenger vans, that make runs to pick people up to go to church, were vandalized! All four wheels on both the vans were slashed.(That's 8 wheels for those of you who are mathematically challenged.) Plus (well, minus I guess) several headlights and tailights were smashed out.
So even with all that bad stuff, I would still say that Halloween was a success! I can't wait for next year!

My Fears

The saying goes: Tis the season to be scarified. This is usually true,because Halloween is about scary stuff. It's about scaring the socks off everyone. It's about people's fear. And so since I'm not planning on getting scared I thought I would just tell everyone the stuff I'm afraid of:

Heights of 50 feet or more (Little heights I can deal with, like getting on the roof, trampoline jumping, etc.)
Strangers that I have to interact with(Random people I don't have to interact with that I meet on the street are OK,but if I'm going to have to work with them/play with them/minister with them, etc. then I get kinda nervous)
Girls(Yes, I do mean in general. That's one I'm trying to work on,because I know I need to just be myself and not worry about what they think. I guess I'm also sort of afraid they'll laugh at me. With me or at my jokes is OK, but not at me. Something I need to work on.)
Snakes( In glass cases is way cool. Out in the wild, in my bed or in my hand kind of scares me though. But if I had to handle them, I think I would want a long sticky thing with a hook on the end.)

Other than those things, I'm not really afraid of anything else. If you think of anything else let me know.

The two H's

H number one stands for Hannas. The Hannas got here on Wednesday night and stayed until Monday morning. While they were here they helped us with apple sauce and we made over 100 jars! Unfortunately while they were here most of them got sick.

And Monday evening I got sick. And Tuesday afternoon I found out what I had and what they had: H1N1 (Otherwise known as swine flu). Fortunately, now I'm doing much better. I've only got a cough now, and I'm over the fever. So that's where I've been.

September

Ironic isn't it, that the title is September and I haven't written anything all last month. And that this is now October.
Sorry I haven't been posting. Here's what I've been doing since August 24:
VBS days 2-5
Learning a lot about purity
Getting stronger in my faith
Starting school
Struggling with Geometry,Writing and Grammar, Biology, World History, and Spanish 1
Watching the Clone Wars Season 3 Premier(which was awesome by the way!)
Getting fish tank set up
Getting two new goldfish and almost $40 worth of equipment
Writing this post

And now that brings us to the present: now!

And now to the future. This Wednesday thru Monday, some friends of mine from Ohio, will be staying at my house. And while the adults are making applesauce I'll be having the time of my life goofing off.... I mean helping them! :)
I'm not dead... yet.

Polar Xtremes Day #0 and #1

So Sunday night the ministry team from Watkins Glen came over to the parsonage. Let me see if I can remember all the names.

• Joel
• Jonathan
• Elizabeth
• Evilyn
• Christine
• Joe
• Peter
• Pastor Jeremy and his wife, Melody

So we had pizza and Mt. Dew and hung out and debreifed until 10PM. That was day #0. Day #1 we got up and had breakfast at 7:30. By 8:15 we were on our way to church. My job in VBS is I am the Tech boy. Powerpoint,CD player, videos, and picture taking. So I don't really belong to a group,but then again, I kind of belong to all the groups! So I took pictures and did PP and stuff and then at noon everybody had lunch. And my Dad debreifed and there were a lot of uncomfortable pauses and eventually they had to go home. But they will be back tomorrow to do puppets and the other stuff they do. I can't wait!

Lamoka Family Camp III

Here's the run down of my week at Camp Lamoka...

• So my family and I were in cabin #8 and 9. There were only 8 families,but that was cool,because there wasn't as much wait for anything.
• Monday night Chip Wood did a diagram on what faith is. He said it was, Hope in Hardship, Emptied of Everything, Walk Willing, Action Attitude, and Yeild to Yeild. If you take the first letters and put them backwards it spells YAWEH. Pretty cool!
• Tuesday evening there was a ginormous thunderstorm. I was on the porch of the dining hall and I watched as the other shore disappeared. In 30 seconds the rain hit the camp. I was standing in the middle of the porch three feet away from the edge of the roof and I was still soaked. The wind was so strong it was hard to open the door to get into the dining hall. It reminded me of how powerful God is!
• Wednesday my dad was the speaker for the day! He did two of the Mete Pete sermons, one of which I hadn't heard. So that was cool.
• I'm a pretty good canoer(that's French for a person who goes canoeing). But I've never been to the end of Lamoka Lake. So my dad and I took out the camp canoe and went to the donut hole. (The donut hole used to be a sluice pipe that connected Waneta and Lamoka Lake. The pipe however has been replaced by a connector under a bridge.) So to get to the connector you have to paddle two miles. Needless to say when we got there I was pooped. And for a change of pace I said, "Dad? Could I steer?" Little did I know. So thirty five minutes later after making several 360 turns and runing into the banks once or twice we made it back. So I paddled 4 miles (roughly) in about an hour. Pretty fun.
• Thursday I made a prediction that it would rain by 3 PM. And it did almost right to the minute. I guess I'm physic.
• Friday Mr. Wood showed this awesome video from the Creation Museum about the universe and the stars. It was so humbling. I've never felt so insignificant. God is so big, super strong, and way mighty. There totally isn't anything he can't do!

And that is what I did at Camp Lamoka!

Off to Camp!

Hey everybody! I'm off to Camp Lamoka! (Which by the way, is just about the coolest place on earth!) I'll be sure to give you all a full report when I get back! See ya!

Red-Eyed Tree Frog Rescue

Hey everyone! Your Go Diego Go critic is back! I was watching yet another Go Diego Go episode and I noticed some things:

1. So there is this camera named "Click"(I think that is a pretty pathetic name.). She can zoom in on something that is like a mile away. This obviously isn't a camera that you can pick up at Walmart. I seriously doubt that Diego is like Jules Verne and is ahead of his time.


2. Click uses sound recognition. So one of the targets they zoom in on is whales. They don't make sounds like red-eyed tree frogs(the creatures in question). But the thing that gets to me is that the whales are floating with 3/4 of their body above water. Totally unscientific!


3. Alicia(Diego's sister and partner in rescuing) has a funky keyboard where there aren't letters,but odd symbols. Maybe it's a Korean keyboard or something.


4. Diego has an awesome zip line system that takes him to just about anywhere in the jungle. I think this is awesome,yet a little absurd.


5. There is this "mud pit" that looks a lot like a stagnant muddy river. The pit also is seemingly endless and has no vanishing point.


6. Diego communicates with animals using sounds. Ex. Diego wants to communicate with a pig. He says "Oink!"


7. There are these palm trees that Diego must pass. They are doing the cha-cha-cha and dropping coconuts in the process. This is mildly disturbing(the fact that trees wiggle their "hips" and shake their "bottoms").


8. The coconuts that the trees drop are ginormous. They are about the size of one of those yoga/exercise balls. And considering the size of the trees to their coconuts they are way too unporportional.


9. To enter a Mayan pyramid Diego climbs like a ninja up the side instead of using the stairs that are probably right around the corner.


10. Inside this pyramid there are owls and trees. First off the trees wouldn't be able to grow without sunlight. Secondly, there are tons of other places for owls to roost.


11. Diego has this cool pal named "Rescuepack". Rescuepack's theme song is cooler than Diego's. (Doesn't seem fair does it?) And during the theme song he is shaking his rear around. Is this the kind of thing we want to be teaching young impressionable kids? To shake their rears while singing?


12. Diego is rafting down the river and he stops mid current. This might be achievable if Diego had his paddle in the water. But he doesn't. This completely defies the laws of physics!


13. After the tree frogs are rescued they are so happy that they kiss Diego! Unless you know something I don't I'm pretty sure that frogs can't pucker up.


14. The tree frogs are in the trees and are so happy that they jump apoximately 4-5 feet in the air. I'm quite sure they can't jump that high.

There are many other problems with Go Diego Go, but for time's sake I have excluded them. I hope you now see the error of the show as I have seen the error. Thank you.

TLC 09

So all last week I was at TLC. Here's what happened...

• Jaquie Von Sanden, Laura Bartholemew, Shelby Hill, Cassandra Pelton, Jordan Mcginnis, and Scott Paris(that's me) all went to TLC and roomed with some of the Yorkshire crew.
• The college dorms were pretty nice, the food had a little to be desired, and the hang time with the other people was very cool.
• The awesomest part was Worship/message time. I have never had so much fun worshiping God and learning about him!
• We had 5 speakers for the 14 main sessions: Mel Walker, Dwight Peterson, Don Jackson, Mike Show, and Glenn Amos. The messages were awesome and I'm so glad that God let me learn so much about him.
• God really convicted me about a lot of stuff. Mainly how I spend my time and how I talk to my siblings.
• And we even had workshops after lunch! The two two day workshops that I went to were "Preparing NOW for Vocational Ministry" and "Using Sports to Reach People". They were both awesome! I really liked the Vocational ministry one, because I think(and have thought for a while) that God is calling me into ministry in some way.
• So then like Friday night I got really sick and I have been feeling miserable. I had to stay home from church this morning whick I am really bummed about. If you could pray for my fast recovery that would be great!

And that was my very awesome week at TLC!

Where I Was

So if anyone is out there, I'm not dead. Yet. I was at VBS in Wyoming. I totally had like a ton of fun! So now you're thinking, "Yeah! Scott is back to blogging! Now I can have some serious fun!" Sorry to burst your bubble, but I'll be gone at TLC this week. So I should probably be back to blogging in a week or so. Thanks! By the way, if anyone is out there leave me a comment to let me know that.

Calvin and Hobbes

So I love Calvin and Hobbes. And I thought you might too. And since nothing super exciting has happened lately I thought now would be a good time. So here are the famous Calvin and Hobbes:

Happy 4th!

So today I went tubing and got whacked with wooden swords and swam in very cold water. All this happened at my grandparents' cottage which is on the channel that connects Mud lake and Whaneta Lake and Lamoka Lake. Today three really cool things happened:

1. My grandpa took me on a wild ten minute tube ride. And I stayed on and had a ton of fun.
2. My little cousin fell off the dock with his life jacket on. I was able to quickly grad him and pull him out of the water. Hopefully I won't have to do something like that again.
3. My sister(don't get me wrong she's family and all, still she is kinda a knucklhead at times. Kinda like me. It must run in the family) lost her glasses off the dock. Thankfully we were able to find them after 20 minutes or so. And even better they weren't sratched too badly.

So those are three of the highlights of the day at the cottage. Happy 4th everyone!

Howe Caverns

So Howe Caverns is about 35 miles from Albany. It is really cool! It has an underground river, an underground lake, and is really cool! So these two pictures below are of the river Styx(no that isn't an error). In Greek mythology the river Styx flows through hell. Creepy!


This here is a stalagmite and a stalactite. When two of they combine it is called a column.This rock above the walkway is called Godzila's head. This cave is getting creepier(I think that is a word) all the time! I've outlined the shape so you can see it a little better.

This rock here is called "The Three Witches". Very much creepiness! Again I've outlined the shapes

This here is called the turtle. Why? Because it is shaped like a turtle!

This stalagmite is called the "Leaning Tower of Pisa".

This strange formation in the picture below is called the organ. If you hum, the sound resonates and makes a really cool sound.

This here is a calcite heart. There are two myths that the tour guide told us:

1. If you stand on the heart you will have good luck.(Immeadeatly all the kids on the tour jump on the heart, until our tour guide tells them the next myth...)
2. If you stand on the heart you will get married in a year.(All the kids jump off the heart in a split second. Very funny!)

So those are some of the many cool sites at Howe Caverns!

Fish Tank

So few days ago I got this really scummy looking fish tank that wasn't worth a dirt clod. But I bought it anyway and turned it into a sparkling clean fish tank with lots of parts missing. I'm not sure what I even have as far as filter,heater,etc. So I also don't know what kinds of fish go well together and won't kill each other. So if any of you fish people out there know what to do I would love some tips.

Victor Borge

Victor Borge(bore-guh) was a piano comedian. My grandparents love him, and I enjoy watching him when I get the chance. So I thought(as I was laughing heartily at Victor Borge), "I'll bet I'm not the only one who would think this is funny". So here are a few of Victor Borge's great performances. Those of you who aren't music people may not get the some of the jokes, but even so I'm sure you will thoroghly enjoy Victor Borge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ4ZNbiO15M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcV19rylSZchttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWqFaGwNCMUww.youtube.com/watch?v=BcV19rylSZc

Why I haven't been Posting: A recap of Tuesday-Thursday

So I haven't been posting. Here's why:

• Tuesday- Laura Bartholemew was here visiting, so we spent the day at Taughanock Falls. I took a lot of scenic photography(in other words pics of the water/rocks/logs)
• Wednesday- Picking strawberries(me) and making jam(not me). I probably could have posted,but I was too lazy. Watched National Treasure on TV.(Pretty cool movie)
• Thursday- Going to dentist. No cavities :) but lots of plaque and tartar :( Mowed some of the lawn at Wyoming,then it started to thunder and lightning, so I had to call it quits.

So that is where I have been. Sorry!

Optical Illusions

So I was looking around on the internet(because I was bored) at optical illusions. I found a few that I had never seen before. I thought I would share them with you. (Please excuse the pointlessness of these things. Probably most of my posts will be like this,because I'm not really doing much of anything.)Here you see three circles and an outline of a triangle and...is that a white triangle there on top?

This picture I think is pretty self-explanatory. Pretty cool!

Here it looks like the man is getting whatever the seal has on his nose. But he's not. The seal and the area around him are part of a chalk street drawing.

At first glance this looks like the profile of a man. But if you cock your head to the right it reveals the word "Liar".

Look hard at the grid. Do the white dots appear to turn black at times?

Which to you see the head of a Native American or an Eskimo with his back turned to you?

This is pretty cool! The two pictures above are the same picture just turned right side up or right side down.

This is a lithograph by Escher. Which end is up?

Which do you see? A donkey or a seal?
This is the classic "which of the center cirles is bigger"?

The answer is they are the same size.

This is my favorite puzzle. When you change the pieces around there is a square missing. Wierd!

Hope you enjoy all this wierdness as much as I did!

Lego Fun!

So yesterday Jack and I were playing Legos and I thought that I would share our creations with all you bloggers.

So this is the Royal Navy's stockade. Pretty primitive, but out in the middle of the Caribbean or wherever there isn't much to work with.

This is the pirate's island where they have thier treasure, thier catapult, and thier boat. Kinda small,but it works.

These are the terrors of the seven seas: the pirates. There are eight of them and only three soldiers. Fortunately, the soldiers have the help of three peasants.

I'm Back!

Hey! Just when you thought I dropped off the face of the earth, here I am again. So here's a recap of what I was doing these past few days...

• Went to Columbus, Ohio and visited some friends. So the first day(Friday) we got to our friends' house at about dinner time. I played Ultimate frisbee(a fun game if you know what you are doing) in their backyard. Somehow I always seem to get hurt. This trip was no exception. So I was running after the frisbee to catch it and make a touchdown and their was this spikey bush thing between me and the frisbee. Need I say anymore? I got this long horizontal 6" scratch(I measured it) across my chest. Wierdly enough, it didn't cut through my shirt. So that hurt like nuts for a few days.
• Then on Saturday afternoon, Jackson, one of my friends who is 12, another of my friends who was 10, and Jack went down to the park for some serious watergunning. So the layout of this water area is this: a pioneer wagon and an outpost on one end of the area, a tunnel that leads from near the wagon to Fort Washington, Fort Washington in the middle with angles galore, and hoses on the opposite end. So when we get to the water area, there is no one at the outpost or wagon, and all the kids who were originally fighting each other decide to gang up on us. So like a dozen kids 9-11 years old all start charging our position, one of them shouting names at us, profanity, and a certain unamed finger. This was obviously to get us mad and get us to come into the fort so they could nail us. So obviously they were playing a mental war. Two can play this game, I thought, so I start just walking slowly toward thier position gun held high. The kids see that by spraying me they aren't slowing me down, so they run screaming and yelling away at top speed. So within a half an hour of fighting, about 6 or 7 kids have surrendered and joined our team, so after that we just sort of nailed the annoying kid ( the one who was swearing and running) and his compatriots. So that was fun.
• So my family went to church in Columbus with our friends. Then, we traveled to Pittsburgh to see my great aunt who has written at least one book and is starting on another and is a philosophy teacher at Geneva College.
• In Pittsburgh, everybody is happy because the Penguins won the Stanley Cup. Everyone is so happy that, they were having a parade Monday. And so we were driving around in that chaos all yesterday. So first we went to the Pittsburgh Children's Museum. That was fun. The only downside was that it was small and you could see everything there was to see in about an hour. After that, we went to lunch to meet with my first cousin. That was fun, the kids got to play on the playground, and I got to eat.(One of my favorite pastimes!) Then, we went to the Carnegie Science Center. It is right next to the Steelers' Stadium, so I got to see the outside of that. We went on the motion simulator, in a submarine called the USS Requin(that missed WWII by two days), and some other really cool stuff.
• The really sad part of my trip was that at the science center there was a exhibit on Darwin. Christians and non-Christians alike agree that Religion and Philosophy cannot interfere with science. Yet they had topics such as, "Can you believe in God and Evolution?". It makes me sad to think of all the people who are beliving in the THEORY(it is still a theory. People seem to forget that.) of Evolution. So that was a downer.
• And after all that stuff, I went to bed. Then, I got up took a shower. Chased after my aunt's dog because he got loose. Walked the dog after I got him. Borrowed a book. And then was trapped in a van with 5 other people for 6 hours. And I'm here to tell about it! So that is where I was.

Blog Silence

So there is going to be no blogging on my blog for a few days. I'm going off into the far reaches of Ohio and Pennsylvania! Hopefully I'll have pictures to show you all when I get back home. Just thought I should let you know so that you're not going, "Where's Scott!?" and panicking, because you think I've gone off the face of the earth. I'll be back Tuesday or so. In the words of General Eisenhower, "I shall return."

School's Out!

So school was officially out for my family yesterday! Yipee! Now I can have some serious fun! So I was thinking about all I'm going to be doing this summer like...

• Ohio/Pittsburg trip(to see friends and my great aunt) June 12-16 First, we're going to see our friends who live in Columbus, Ohio. The kids are the similar ages as the Paris kids, so we usually have fun. Then, we visit my great aunt(who by the way teaches philosophy at Geneva College and has written at least one philosophy book) who lives in Pittsburg. That usually is fun aswell.
• Laura's Grad Party July 11 So that should be fun to see Laura and all the rest of the Wyoming people.
• Sunday July 12 So after the grad party I get to go to church at Wyoming and go to Sunday School and fun stuff like that
• VBS(at Wyoming) July 13-17 So that should be incredibly fun,becuase not only do I get to hang out with a bunch of sweaty smelly kids and be increibly tired at the end of the day, but I get to minister to them and serve God! That is awesomness! Plus I get to hang out at my friend Jordan's house. Superness!
• TLC(Teen Leadership Conference) July 20-24 So I'm hoping I'll learn a lot there and get to know the Yorkshire crew a little better. So that should be fun as well, just like the rest of the summer.
• Family Camp 3 August 17-22 So I will get to hang out with my family for an entire week at (in my opnion) one of the most cool places on earth: Camp Lamoka! If you've never been there, you are terribly deprived!
• VBS(at TAB) August 24-28 So I'm not sure whether this will be fun,but I'm going to try to make it be. We're doing the Arctic Express(or something like that) VBS from RBP. Hopefully it will go well.

And so that is what is happening in my incredibly packed summer! If I'm not posting for long periods of time it's probably because I'm not around.

Corning Museum of Glass

So today my Mom,Heather,Lauren, Jack, I went to the Corning Museum of Glass(AKA CMOG). These are some pictures taken by me, during the day. Please forgive the ridiculous captions that I am sure to put with the pictures. So when we went inside, the first thing they had that we could do was to make a design of a glass thing. Kids could make a design and then the glass making guys would choose one picture and you could take your creation home. So we did that.

My sister Heather likes shows and sitting in places for long periods of time. I don't. So Heather wanted to go to like seven shows in one day. Thankfully we only went to three. The first one was a glass breaking demo. That was probably the coolest one. So the guy doing the demo (Adam) had three types of glass: Plate glass, Laminated glass, and tempered glass. He also had this machine that showed stress. Plate glass and laminated glass have no stress because they are cooled gradually, and tempered glass has organized stress, because it is cooled super-fast. Pretty cool! And Jackson got to help smash the glass so that was cool.

So remeber those drawings we made in the beginning. Well the glass making guys decided to make Jackson's! So Wednesday, when we go to pick it up, Jackson will have a green turtle in his room! Very cool to watch!

So after that, we went and looked at all the glass art. Who would have thought that you could make so much from glass?

This was my favorite piece. So cool yet so wierd. Kinda like me! It is called, "It's Raining Knives".

Cool chess set!

So that is pretty much what happened today! Hope you like the pics!

Music Man

So last night was my trumpet concert. It went pretty well I guess. I played some pretty cool songs: The Matador, America The Beautiful On Parade, A Little Bit Of Jazz, Doxology, Ect. Then, after getting back at 10 o'clock the previous night, I had a piano recital at 9:30 AM ET. It went pretty good I guess. I played Brian's Song(which is the theme from a movie called Brian's Song(imagine that). If you've never seen the movie,watch it! If you're a guy and you like football,watch it! If you're a girl and you like to cry, watch it! If you're a guy or girl and you like to cry and or like football, watch it!) I also played Rejoice Ye Pure In Heart. In the order I was last, and usually the best person is last. That was pretty encouraging! I was told by one of the mothers who has never seen the movie that while I was playing the song she teared up. And my uncle(who has seen the movie and doesn't show much emotion most of the time) said he teared up as well. So I have been really encouraged these past two days! I will hopefully continue to progress and do well.

COMING SOON! PICTURES FROM THE PARIS FAMILY'S VISIT TO THE CORNING GLASS MUSEUM!

Thursday Trumpet

For those of you who don't know I play trumpet! When I lived in Wyoming,(if you've never been there you need to contact me and I can tell you all about it, and what to do there, and who to meet there) I went up to Geneseeo every thursday to take trumpet lessons from a guy named Mr. Tripiciano. Mr. Trip is a hunter/speaker/music teacher, who taught me to play trumpet and allowed me to play in a school band. I started taking lessons from him in March of 2008. He helped me do really well and play with confidence(which had a part in my "coming out of my shell"). Well, when I left he gave me all the band music and I agreed to play in the spring concert. Today at 7:20 my Mom and I left the house to go to Geneseeo so I could play with the band before the concert. So I went and played with the band and saw a lot of people I hadn't seen in a while, and touched up on the things that I wasn't all that great at. And after that my mom and I picked up the kitchen island at the Furniture Barn. And after that it was time for lunch. I wolfed down three 99 cent Arby's sandwiches, and half of a bottle of water. And after that I slept most of the way to Ithaca. And so tomorrow evening at 7 PM Eastern Time, I will be playing in the spring concert at Geneseeo Christian School. If you get the time I could use some prayer!

What happened Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Today

Sorry I haven't written in a few days. Here's a recap of what happened.
So on Thursday Ithaca has this festival called "The Ithaca Festival" (imagine that) and the parade is right near the church. So Tab gave out hot dogs and lemonade and all for the novel price of $0(AKA free). And even though we didn't give away as many as we wanted to we gave out a good amount. The Gideons(the guys who give out new testament/proverbs and psalms bibles) gave away several New Testaments as well! God is so good! That was Thursday.
On Friday, this girl named Jacquelyn(she follows this blog and is great at giving out advice) was graduating. I made a pit stop at the Bakers' house and Mr. Baker and I talked a lot about my blog and some other stuff. So at this graduation, I learned how to be a thirsty camel(don't ask) and we sang some really great hymns that I hadn't sung in a while. It was great! I got to see her and a bunch of my other pals! That was Friday.
Then, Saturday came. Saturday evening there was a dinner at the church for the missionaries that were going to be speaking on Sunday. The missionary's name was Dan Wood. He came with a part of his family: Danny(who was 15), Analis(who was 6) and Tovia(who was 5). He is ministering to Jewish people in southern Brazil. I got to listen to Mr. Wood and learn a lot. That was Saturday.
Sunday was today(or tomorrow or some other day, depending on when you read this). I listened to Mr. Wood during Sunday school and learned a lot about what he does and about his life and his family's life in south Brazil. Then, he sang this really cool song in morning service in Hebrew! It was so cool! He gave some of his family's history and preached on Acts 8:26-40. He went 10 minutes overtime, but he said some things that I really needed to hear. After he spoke, he and his family came to my house for lunch. I got to know Danny better, and we found out that we have a lot in common. It was so neat! God has really blessed me over the past few days! I am super thankful for all he has given to me!

Jail: Right or Wrong?

Fact #1: The Bible says that evil should be punished. In the Bible wrong choices are always followed by consequences.
Fact#2: The Bible says that hanging with evildoers is not good. The Bible warns people to avoid evildoers.
Fact#3: Putting people in jail for life gives them no chance to redeem themselves.
Fact#4: Putting people in jail is a form of punishment.
Fact#5: While in jail, people will run into tons of bad influences and evildoers.
Fact#6: Putting people in jail protects the person in jail and other people.

So based on all these facts, is jail a good or bad idea? Should we go back to the old "cut of people's hands if they steal"? Here's what I think...
Prison is a good idea. Wrong needs to be punished. People who have commited crimes are a potential threat to themselves and those around them. The people that a criminal is imprisoned with may not be the greatest, but that really can't be helped. Being with people like that is almost a punishment itself. So is jail good or bad? In my opinion it is for the most part good. What are your thoughts? Leave me a comment!