Brian Regan

The Fauth 40+ were introduced to Brian Regan in Iceland. That guy is hilarious. We had an episode saved on our DVR (until the Olympics wiped out everything I had saved....) that we would watch over and over.

I checked his website and saw that he is going to be in Frederick, Maryland on Thursday, October 23rd so last night I scored us some tickets to go see him. Looking forward to it immensely.

Olympics - Iceland style

I'm not sure how Jason missed this but Iceland was in the finals for the last Olympic medal. The sport was team handball. Unfortunately, Iceland lost to the French and was awarded the silver medal. For the record, Iceland had only won 3 prior Olympic medals, all in the summer games. A triple jumper won silver in 1956, a judo bronze in 1984 and a pole vault bronze in 2000.

What really captured my attention were some of the quotes from Iceland's President. Quotes such as:

"Have none of you been to Iceland? Oh well you've seriously got to come, you don't know what you're missing. First of all it's not cold. Second, or rather reverse order, the girls are the prettiest in the world." -- Iceland's first lady, Dorrit Moussaieff.

and

Iceland President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson: It's very difficult to present a too positive picture of Iceland, because in many ways it's a dream country. It was for centuries one of the poorest countries in Europe. A nation which was under foreign rule. And we succeeded to gain our independence and establish the republic in the middle of the last century, and we have now reached one of the highest standards of living in the world. Our energy is 100 percent clean.

Everybody can read and write. And it's a country without fear, without terror. Our open, free, democratic society. So when my friends from the United States come to Iceland, they don't really believe that such a country exists. And what happened here tonight will be yet another unbelievable aspect of the dream country that Iceland really is."

However, having been to Iceland, the dream country is missing the knowledge of the gospel and a saving relationship with Christ. Just another reminder of the need for people like Colby and Annie to sacrifice and take the gospel to a lost and dying world.

Wild Goose Chase and How Small I am

I've been participating as a book reviewing blogger for Mulitnomah publishing.  The book I'm currently reading is Mark Batterson's Wild Goose Chase.  I heard Mark speak at the Whiteboard sessions and he talked about how our thoughts are so small compared to God's thoughts.  

In the Wild Goose Chase, he relates a story about Theodore Roosevelt.

"When Teddy Roosevelt was president, he and naturalist friend William Beebe would routinely go outside after dinner and look up at the night sky.  They would locate a faint spot of light in the lower left-hand corner of Pegasus and recite the following:

This is the Spiral Galaxy in Andromeda.

It is as large as our Milky Way.

It is one of 100 million galaxies.

It is 750,000 light-years away.

It consists of 100 billion suns, each larger than our sun.

Roosevelt would pause and grin.  Then he would say to his friend, "Now I think we feel small enough!  Let's go to bed."

Isaiah 55:9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, 
       so are my ways higher than your ways 
       and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Book Review: God Loves Me More Than That, and When God Created My Toes

   

Summary: In two new books from best-selling children’s author Dandi Daley Mackall, clever rhymes and delightful illustrations help young children, ages three and up, understand God’s huge love for them and his joy in creating them. These enchanting picture books from the writer-illustrator team of Dandi Mackall and David Hohn will instill awe in young children as they revel in each page. Parents alike will appreciate the engaging stories that communicate God’s perfect plan and his divine purpose for little hearts.

            In God Loves Me More Than That, children learn that God loves them deeper than a wishing well, wider than a semi-truck, louder than thunder, and softer than a kitten’s sneeze. Each question, presented with charming child-like faith will help young ones grasp the great love of God through comparisons and descriptions they can easily understand. In short, they’ll discover that His love is bigger, wider, higher, and deeper than anything they could imagine!

            In When God Made My Toes, kids are drawn into the wonder of their creation by God. Their masterful artist who fashioned them just right for amazing and delightful adventures, such as roller skating, finger-painting, doing flips, and drinking cocoa. Children will come to an understanding that God shaped each part of their amazing bodies with joy, delight, and humor.

These books are written for the younger child.  Both are excellent choices for first graders or younger who can easily read and grasp the concepts of God's love and creation.  Both books are available at Amazon.  

God Loves Me More Than That

When God Made My Toes

Author Bio: Dandi Daley Mackall has published more than 400 books for children and adults, with more than 3 million combined copies sold. She is the author of WaterBrook’s two other delightful Dandilion Rhymes books, A Gaggle of Geese & A Clutter of Cats and The Blanket Show. A popular keynote speaker at conferences and Young Author events, Mackall lives in rural Ohio with her husband, three children, and a menagerie of horses, dogs, and cats.

 

Book Review - God Gave us Heaven

 Little Cub awakens one morning with some important questions on her mind: What is heaven like? How do we get there? Will we eat in heaven? Will we be angels?

During a delightful day spent wandering their arctic world, Papa gently answers each question, assuring Little Cub that heaven is a wonderful place, “a million times better” than she can imagine. He explains how God has made a way for those who love him to enter their heavenly home forever after their lives on earth are over.

My kids loved this book and it presented a biblically sound picture of how they have a way to enter this heavenly home forever.  For example, the little cub asks if he will be an angel but is told no as angels were created for a purpose.  Just as we are looking towards a heavenly feast, so is little cub anxiously awaiting a feast of fish in heaven.  This is an excellent choice for younger kids and parents, grandparents and librarians will love it.  The pictures are great and the story is easy to read.

Through captivating, full-color illustrations and tender, biblically sound storytelling, young readers and those who love them will find reasons to rejoice in knowing that God Gave Us Heaven.

God Gave Us Heaven is available at Amazon.

Author Bio: Lisa Tawn Bergren is the award-winning author of nearly thirty titles, totaling more than one million books in print. She writes in a broad range of genres, from adult fiction to devotional. God Gave Us Heaven is Lisa’s fourth children’s book, following in the tradition of the best-selling God Gave Us You. She makes her home in Colorado, with her husband, Tim, and their children, Olivia, Emma, and Jack.

Camera woes

Our Nikon D40 is giving an error message each time we try and take a picture so off to the Nikon repair shop it will go.

Getting a grip for the fall

Good thing Dave has posted a bit regularly or we would be out of the Pelt's good graces at least as far as blogging.

School: I start a new class tomorrow on cultural diversity. I am supposed to do one of the papers on my cultural identity. I don't feel like I have one which is how a lot of Northern European Americans feel according to my textbooks. I can't even interview my parents or grandparents as I do not have any now. Should be interesting to figure this out. Plus, Northern European Americans are bashed in most of the books as we are the domineering and privileged majority that have suppressed everyone else for hundreds of years. (An interesting fact: The Native Americans started out at 12.5million 400 years ago and by the 1980 were down to only 237,000 people). At least I am a woman!

Exercise: I have been contemplating the sprint triatholons and have been running, biking and swimming like a good little cross trainer. I was wondering about my bike though (bought from a garage sale, heavy, only 3 speeds, etc). So, yesterday I went into the bike shop to see what they could do with my bike. Well you guessed it, surprise, surprise, "You might as well buy a new bike" which I wasn't going to do, but he went on to say in the same breath, "We have 1 year free financing" and so that did it. I ended up settling for a hybrid (cross between a mountain ad road/racing bike) and some paraphenalia with it. Needless to say, the new 4 hour shifts at work will help pay the monthly payment for the year. Now I really feel pressured to ride.

Vacations: This has been an amazing summer for me as I went away for over 7 weeks between school, youth camp and family vacations. I really enjoy traveling but the summer is pretty much done leaving me to wonder where it went. We are definitely Kayak fanatics now and hope to find 3 double kayaks gently used so we can all go out on the lakes and rivers in the area. We enjoyed Myrtle Beach and St Augustine, FA-our first time at both. We saw lots of friends and family this summer and caught up a bit. Now I am working like a maniac to "catch up" a bit. Not everything is free financing.

Kids: Jonny's feet are now a size 9 men's and he is not even 11 years old. David just keeps getting bigger. Elizabeth is almost my height. I just bought Arianna size 10 clothes thinking they would be big-they fit nice. I am so proud of them all and I think they enjoyed the summer too.

Health: I am putting a plug in for the Natural Health place across from the New Marriot Hotel on Rt 1. The certified nutritionist there, Beverly, is very good and knowledgeable and has helped me a lot to figure out the maze of supplements to take or not. I am glad I have finally come to rest on that.

Bunco: I played Bunco for the first time last night with women at church. I had the most baby buncos. Colby and Annie, there is NO skill to that came-it is pure luck.

Travels

Been to Florida and now are in Myrtle Beach.  Quick notes from travels.

• Lots of Waffle Houses in the south
• Saw Keilan at the Creech compound.
• Saw a van with an air condition unit in the back window and a portable generator on back of the van
• Went kayaking several times in Florida

Pictures to follow