Another Sunday Visit

Our Sunday visits are always interesting but I love the photos I got yesterday. The unspoken "talk" between mom and Darcy. The book reading that Jeremiah is sharing with Uncle Michael is precious...Jeremiah has really taken to books now. All 3 little ones love their Uncle Michael and I'm not sure he knows what to make of it all. He is so serious and they are not. And they are loud and will make SURE they have your attention. Jeremiah kept throwing books at him wanting him to read. Michael didn't get the hint until finally Jeremiah just crawled into his lap and opened the book. I had to read about 4 books to Darcy and Jacob as well. (It was a bit hard to photograph that..). I'm glad we have books. Of course Darcy WANTED to fingerpaint but I convinced her we'd do that another day.

All of Creation..

"This most beautiful system could only proceed from the dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being" Isaac Newton

"My memory is nearly gone; but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Saviour." Isaac Newton

In Memory

James Kenneth "Ken" Bean
BEAN, JAMES KENNETH "KEN," of Helena, passed away Thursday, December 27, 2007. The family will receive friends from 12:00 noon until 1 p.m. on Saturday, December 29, 2007 at Ridout's Southern Heritage Funeral Home, Pelham. The funeral service will be at 1 p.m. the same day in the funeral home's chapel, with Reverend George Hill officiating. Ken was born in 1935 to the late Luther and Ruth Bean. He was diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in May 2007. He was educated at Minor High School in Pratt City and was a U.S. Air Force Veteran who served in France. Ken had a long and distinguished career with Chicago Bridge & Iron Company in Birmingham. He was always excited to share the Gospel, along with his wife, Betty. He spent his Saturdays sharing the Gospel in inner-city Birmingham, and Thursday nights serving the homeless through Soldiers of the Cross Ministries. Throughout Ken's difficult journey, his faith in Jesus Christ never wavered; he finished the race well. He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Betty; daughter, Donna (Roger) Willis; son, Mark (Tracie) Bean; grandsons, Brett Willis and Logan Bean; as well as four siblings, Phillip Bean, Carol Ray, Sandra (Bill) Frame and Deborah (Jerry) Miller; and many nieces and nephews. The family would like to thank Comfort Care Hospice and caregivers Heather, Nicole, Hattie, Diane, Regina, Ginger, and Pastor Hill, and many friends. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the CJD Foundation, P.O. Box 5312 Akron, Ohio 44334 or 286 N. Cleveland-Massillon Rd., Suite N, Akron, Ohio 44333. Phone (330) 665-5590.

When we moved to Alabaster some 21 years ago the Beans practically adopted Amy
as their own and thus began our journey into inner city ministry at Gate City. Later
I met their daugher Donna as part of Christian Women's Club and became her friend
as well (and she is about to move to St. Petersburg Russia to begin a new adventure in life).
When we got the news in May of Mr. Bean's diagnosis of CJK disease
(human Mad Cow) we were shocked and upset for him but also for his family.
Their long journey (nightmare) has now ended.
Our prayers continue for the family. I know Mr. Bean is with his beloved Savior.
Chris

And He Shall Reign Forever and Ever

Isaiah 9:6-7
"For a child will be born for us,
a son will be given to us,
and the government will be on His shoulders.
He will be named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father,
Prince of Peace.

The dominion will be vast,
and its prosperity will never end.
He will reign on the throne of David
and over his kingdom,
to establish and sustain it
with justice and righteousness
from now on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will
accomplish this."


King of Kings and Lord of Lords
and He shall Reign forever and ever
Hallelujah

Christmas Day 2007

Matthew was wondering why I bought him a 2nd hand book from the Thrift
store until he found the Gift Card inside.
Darcy LOVED her kite but can't get anyone to take her outside to fly it
(it was raining early on). The Eric Carle blocks were definitely a hit
though.
Finally Darcy wore down and she slowed down and fell asleep. It is so hard
to get a good photo of her as she so rarely stays still long enough.

Michael and Heather are home (YEA!) and Michael received word that he had
been promoted to Sergeant.

And all the "girls" together but I look awful. I've been sick and I didn't
do anything to myself today but get out of bed..
MERRY CHRISTMAS

Christmas Eve at the Hill House

Every year my side gathers at my parent's house for Christmas Eve gift giving
and dinner. Now we only bring gifts for the great grand children (7 now, soon to
be 8 but of course 4 of those are Matthew and Nicoles. Erin and Coy didn't make
it this year because she is very pregnant.). Darcy spent a lot of time telling Eli,
age 2, about things - like those were not all his gifts. Things SHE has recently
learned LOL....it was so fun to listen to.
Mother put the bowl of chex mix on her coffee table just for the kids
and boy did the twins appreciate that. They appreciate ALL food and dove
into it.
Next year we will put the sweets out of the reach of Darcy and the others
as she would NOT eat anything but Fudge, cookies and Divinity. Why eat
vegetables when you have chocolate right there within hand reach!
It was fun...
Chris

More Quotes

"Imagination is more important than knowledge"
Albert Einstein (this is the poster in my classroom in
Chemistry)

"If we knew what is was we were doing, it would not be
called research would it?"
Albert Einstein

Grandcat and Darcy too

It's SO hard to wait for Christmas....and so tempting when all those gifts
are wrapped and under the tree (and you think they might be all for you...)

But I tried to keep Darcy busy while Papa D and Jessica baked cookies today.
MaryAnn, the cat, and Darcy and I painted some more masterpieces and then
we played with something called "Moonsand". It was sort of fun and certainly
different. I would never have had this stuff in my house when my kids were
little though. It is now all over my kitchen floor even though I kept saying,
"Keep it on the paper". I have no photos as I didn't dare move to take photos.
I was too busy trying to keep the sand ON the table. So now we fingerpaint and
play with sand. I'm on my way to becoming the favorite grandparent.
However it was SO funny - while she was painting and I was basically minding
my own business - out of the blue- Darcy says, "CC, You are getting on my
nerves." Calmly, no emotion. Just matter of fact. Didn't even pause painting.
I said, "Oh really and where did you hear that?" She shrugged and continued
painting. Jessica was blushing so I didn't have to guess.

And Aslan still is avoiding MaryAnn who is really a pretty cat.

Quote of the Day

"Books...are like lobster shells, we surround ourselves with 'em, then we
grow out of 'em and leave 'em behind, as evidence of our earlier states of
development." Dorothy Sayers

Fingerpainting 101

The key to babysitting Darcy is to find things to keep her busy.
Fingerpainting was a big hit. We painted and painted and painted.
Those 10 years of crafts in scouting paid off big time as I recalled
various objects that made good prints. Then big sister joined in as
well. I think I have a budding Picasso on my hands. I'm not sure
what we'll do next visit. Maybe that new Moon Sand stuff..
Chris

Quote of the Day

"God is, or is not. There is an infinite chaos separating us.
At the far end of the infinite distance a game is being played and
the coin will come down heads or tails. How will you wager?"
Blaise Pascal, Pensees

Quote of the Day

"The problem with is not that Christianity has been tried and
found wanting, but that it has been found difficult and left
untried." G.K. Chesterton

Christmas at Arlington

What do Your Neighbors Have Up for Christmas?

Every year for years now. I try to get Aslan to go sharpen his claws but he
won't go near them. At least they don't light up but the thoughtful neighbors
do have lights shining on them. This beats the neighbors with the Snoopy doghouse
right next to the Manger scene. All we do is put a wreath on the door and a few
lights around the porch. It's just all too much to try to compete with.
I WANT one of those flashing light houses with a SONG but no, the dear husband won't do it.
Something about the perpetual migraine he would live in if he had to come home to
that each night....
Chris

Bacteria V

Finally the surprise one - One I thought the students were silly about
suggesting that we swab - the tops of the cleaning cans like the Lysol.
All the Spray buttons and such. I think there were 3 cans total.
Um, as you can clearly see, someone needs to definitely clean the cleaning
cans!

Chris

Bacteria IV

The refrigerator door handle - this one was a bit of a surprise in it's pattern of growth. The pattern looks like a pathogenic type of bacteria but looks like only one bacteria (not a mix). So perhaps the door was cleaned but someone (perhaps a
student there that day) who was sick opened the door, loaning their germs to the
rest of us.

The next part of our experiments will be testing simple antiseptics like hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, Neosporin and Iodine to see if these "kill" the bacteria we've grown so I'll be updating with new photos soon. I'm most interested in this one.

The Microwave Oven door didn't really grow much showing it had been cleaned.

Chris

Bacteria III

The Stair railing inside the building (ucky! I will not be touching those again)
and the water fountain (well, I already bring my own bottled water and thank goodness I do!) both were alive with bacteria. Just really nasty.

Chris

Bacteria II

The nasty bathrooms - the bacteria growth comes from the boy's urinals and
was about what I expected. The girl's bathroom looks more like fungus but some
bacteria. Since this is the bathroom I see and it LOOKS very clean I admit
I was a bit surprised. The Lysol must not be killing all the germs.

Chris

Growing Bacteria - 6th Grade Science

This was the worst in my opinion - and one I would not of thought
of doing. One of the students thought of swabbing the cover of one
of the Hymnals in the Sanctuary. That's the top (bad looking) one.
The bottom (less growth) is from the piano keys (and looks more like mold
than bacteria).

I think I'll be mouthing words of Hymns I don't know from now on or wearing
gloves to Sunday Service. Maybe those overhead screens aren't such a bad
idea after all.

Chris

Aslan's Tree

The humans have put the tree up again. They do this every year. I think they are a bit odd with this ritual but it somehow is comforting. There are never any birds in it but the shiny balls that roll when you hit them are a lot of fun. I can only do this at night when they are in bed though as they get mad when I do this while they are in the room with me. And never, never try to climb the tree. It is not for cats to climb. The little humans try to hang things like toys on it. They are odd too but for different reasons (I hide from them). Humans are just weird but they are kinda fun to have around. Aslan

Germ Theory - Growing Bacteria Experiments

In the 1670's Leeuwenhoek invented the microscope and first saw what we
now know as bacteria (he called what he saw "little animals"). It took over
200 years for mankind to connect those little animals to disease and even then
it wasn't well accepted. Lister was fired over and over. Louis Pasteur, the
Father of the Germ Theory, was challenged to a duel for daring to say that
doctors were causing the deaths of their patients because they were the bearers
of germs.

Our 6th grade Science class is studying the Romantic Period of time this
year and that includes the time period of Pasteur, Koch, Lister, Jenner and
more. So this week we started growing our own collection of bacterias from
around the school. I started the week off by making Petri Dishes of culture with Agar at home (and keeping them in the refrigerator nice and safe until needed).
The students who were present came up with ideas of where to swab. I gloved them and gave them swabs and off they went. We swabbed the microwave, the boy's bathroom, a dollar bill, the bottom of a backpack, a lightswitch, a doorknob,
a rather nasty looking cat scratch, the hymnals in the sanctuary, the piano
keys in the sanctuary, and a few other places that will probably come to me
later. I'll give you an update after Wednesday on how well the bacteria grew.
As you can tell from the photos the students were serious enough about what they
were doing. I think we're going to get a lot out of this unit of study..
Chris

Memories

Amy did this collection a few years back. Its in an old window from
the Brock store from years ago. She backed it with fabric and did a
collage of photographs and memories. Top photos are mostly Matthew.
Bottom are Amy and Michael. Other family members are interspersed
about.

I love the photo of Matthew with his apple - about 3 years of age.
I love remembering our Cub Scout weekend - me and Micheal, canoeing
and horseback riding.
I love Amy and her faces (many of which Michael spent much time teaching
her to do!). And her Prom photo.
I love seeing the boys with the Hurstell boys - all grown now. Where did
the time go??
One day I'll have to do one of these for the grandchildren.
Thank you Amy. (When I took the photo of Dad's Christmas Creation
I once more remembered and had to take a photo of the window pane as
well.).
smiles, Mama