Random Fact of the Day

Birds do not have anal sphincters.

Little Sugar Mama

Tori has plugged into the Blogging Matrix.

Her posts will revolve around her and our family, but most specifically Micah.

Her blog is: Little Sugar Mama and Son
the address is: www.littlesugarmama.blogspot.com

I'll put a link to it on my sidebar.

Hikers find mission in mountains

Hikers find mission in mountains
Backpackers often eager to unburden

By BILL OSINSKI
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/27/06

Oftentimes, the heaviest thing carried by hikers of the Appalachian Trail is a burdened soul.

To lighten those loads, Craig and Suzy Miles have created a ministry called Appalachian Trail Servants. Their brand of evangelizing comes after they and their volunteers have passed out buckets of trail mix and boxes of foot medicine to weary long-distance hikers.

"Most of the people who walk the trail are at a transition point in their lives," Craig said. Typically, they are young people recently graduated from college, or adults facing a crossroads such as retirement or divorce.

"They start off with questions like, 'What is my purpose in life? What am I going to do with myself now? It can be pretty scary," he said.

Surprisingly often, Suzy Miles said, people who started out seeking solitude in the wilderness will openly talk about such spiritual questions with someone they've just met.

"When you've walked through the same rainstorms with someone, and have been kept awake by the same person snoring at a campsite, then you're not really strangers," she said.

The Mileses spoke about their ministry Sunday at their home church, Mountain East Community Church in Lilburn. Their unusual mountain ministry started about three years ago when a brief prayer turned into a life-changing moment.

Craig, who grew up in Snellville and graduated from South Gwinnett High School, said he was praying for some direction in his life. At the time, he was working as a technician for an information technology company. He wanted to do something more in line with his education — he has master's degrees in both philosophy and divinity studies.

At the end of his prayer, he glanced at a table. On it was a magazine with a cover story about missionaries who minister to hikers in China.

For Craig, the article was an answer to his prayer for guidance. He and Suzy, who was a college student at the time, decided to turn their pastime of hiking into a ministry. Rather than China, however, they chose to stay closer to home.

Suzy, a native of Dahlonega, had hiked parts of the Appalachian Trail with Craig. They'd been married only about a year, but she said she did not hesitate to support Craig's vision.

They developed a 50-page plan and presented it to officials of the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. They received an endorsement, but were told they would have to raise funds on their own to make the ministry a reality.

The couple spoke at dozens of churches along the 2,175-mile Appalachian Trail, seeking financial support and volunteer workers.

This year, the third of their ministry, Craig and Suzy will leave their home near Cleveland and do a "through hike." That involves walking all way from Springer Mountain in North Georgia to the trail's northern terminus, the peak of Mount Katahdin in Maine.

Besides walking and talking with fellow hikers, the Mileses will work with the volunteers who support their ministry. These "trail angels" staff the way stations set up by Appalachian Trail Servants, usually at spots where the trail crosses a road. They offer food, drink, medical supplies, and conversation — if it's wanted — to the hikers.

Craig said the deep wood is an ideal setting for deep conversations.



Find this article at:
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/stories/0227mettrail.html

uh...

If you've...oh...I dunno...decided you want to puke for some reason...read this article.

Stress

This has been a very stressful last week or so. There just seems to be stress coming from every direction. There's tons of paperwork I have to do at work, Micah is sick and cranky with his ear infections - which in turn is hard on Tori, etc., etc., etc., It's one of those situations where you wish you could pull an ostrich and stick your head in the sand (preferrably on a Pacific Island) for about 4 months, and then pull it out again to see if it got any better.

But, such is life. God never said it would be easy. But He DID say that he would never put anything on us, more than we can bear. And I know that He has a purpose in all of this craziness.
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God hath not promised skies always blue,
Flower strewn pathways all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labor, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

God hath not promised we shall not know
Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;
He hath not told us we shall not bear
Many a burden, many a care.

God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,
Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
Never a mountain rocky and steep,
Never a river turbid and deep.


-Annie Flint

Always Wear Your Seatbelt

My mother sent me this video "Always Wear Your Seatbelt".

Warning: This video is graphic in nature.

We Are Sinking -- (This is funny)

http://www.introbia.ch/download/public/WeAreSinking.swf

Charlie Moment de Jour

Yesterday the counselor was in my classroom to show a drug video. I had shown the video before, and I had the volume turned WAY WAY up. I was having to fiddle with it and in the process it flipped to a TV channel. It was a soap opera. Fortunately only one phrase made its way out. Unfortunately that phrase was, "Give me the D*#$ phone!"

Video games are set to overtake television as the top form of entertainment, measured by total hours spent, in 2007.

For matters of legislation, soy sauce is treated as a beverage and not as a condiment by the food and drug administration.

?Quantos Anos Tiene?

It's Fun To Be One

Micah on his throne, with his minions BeeBop and Rocksteady on his right and left.

...must....get...mo..r.e...in.....mouth...

Que es?

me love trucks

Color Samples

I can't really find a picture of a car on the internet that has quite the color I'm trying to think of. Many come close. I found some that are in the neighborhood. I'm really looking for something half-way between some of the more "gold" look and this color on the cervinis picture. But it would be more on the gold tint than silver. This is my personal preference.

I found a cool site called "redlinegoods.com" They make custom boots for shifters and ebrakes,etc. They do dual colors / stripes / tubed, etc. With the exterior I'm thinking of, I think the boots in this picture would go good.

Also, since I'm on the thought of the interior...I kind of like some of the racing seats out there. I'm not to high on the ones that look like they have four arms trying to wrap around you, but I've seen some cool ones that are less extreme. This would be something to think about if the seats in the one I had were all messed up.

Also, I've been looking at high-powered headlights. There is such a variety...color tinted, but then you have to be careful there for DOT regulations, different shades of white. When I've looked at the scales that compare them to regular headlight bulbs though, the low on the Xenon ones are equal to the brights on regular ones. So I guess everybody that you drove past would think you were bright-lighting them. But I guess if they turned their brights on you, you could flip your brights on and burn out their retinas.

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1-2

The other day I went to Ingles and experienced a funny little 1-2 Charlie moment punch combo.

I headed towards the restroom. Went in. Noticed it looked different than usual. I supposed thats to be expected... since I'm standing in a womens restroom.

I find the mens room. Look on a stall wall. The only graffitti words there? ... "Teachers Suck".

My name was on the "tag" list, so here this is....but you know what this stuff reminds me of? Those girly quizzes that teen magazines have in them.




4 Jobs I Have Had In My Life
1. Hardees (front line / back line / frier of the poultry) & Shoneys (salad bar attendant)
2. Rite Aid (I got to wear a "smock")
3. Childrens Minister
4. Middle School Teacher

4 Goals I Set for This Year
1. Sow generously
2. Obtain a Mustang
3. Write (I have a couple of projects...whether or not this happens I don't know)
4. Become a better teacher

4 Movies I Could Watch Over and Over
1. Gladiator
2. Shawshank Redemption
3. Schendler's List
4. Good Will Hunting (but I can't really watch any movie too much)

4 Places I Have Lived
1. Stockbridge, GA - birth to age 14 (8th grade)
2. Young Harris, GA - 14 - 18 (12th grade) (duh)
3. Toccoa, GA - 1998 - 2001
4. Cornelia, GA - 2001 - current

4 TV Shows I Love To Watch
1. The King of Queens
2. American Idol
3. Everybody Loves Raymond
4. The People's Court and/or Judge Judy

4 Places I've Been On Vacation
1. Phoenix, AZ
2. NY City, NY
3. San Francisco, CA
4. Minneapolis, MN

4 Websites I Visit Daily
1. www.craniumthreads.blogspot.com (narcissitic? spelling?) and all my blogging friends
2. www.ajc.com
3. www.usatoday.com
4. www.drudgereport.com

4 of My Favorite Foods
1. Brunswick Stew
2. Hot and Sour Soup
3. Texas Fajita Nachos
4. Bananna Pudding / Cheese Cake / cookies (I can't choose just one)

4 Places I Would Rather Be Right Now
1. Dreamland ( I'm in bed on my laptop and should be sleeping)
2. Camping
3. Visiting friends
4. On whatever island the people from LOST are on, so I could stare the black cloud in the face.

So Now I'm Going to Tag...
1. David who is too lazy to do this
2. Jared who is too apathetic to do this
3. Tori who doesn't have a blog to do this on

gmail

Michael mentioned on a post on his blog about gmail. I am decently happy with my yahoo mail, even though I am starting to collect more spam attention.

However, to see what the fuss was about, I checked it out. Turns out they have some really cool features. I went ahead and created an account. I'm still debating just a little bit whether or not to go with it; but I might. If I do I'll let ya'll know. The address I created is identical to my yahoo one, except just replace the yahoo with gmail. So it would be ckmail1@gmail.com I'm still debating whether or not it is worth the effort of contacting all the people/subscription stuff I'd have to if I make a switch. But thanks to Michael for bringing it to my attention.

PS. David, you should switch because your hotmail account is worthless. It trashes everything I send.

Charlie Moment

Today as I'm leaving the library after checking out some books:

Librarian: "Good luck with that."

Me: "I will."

David's New Ride

Introducing David's new steed. Scroll down a little to read details about the car.

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Vehicle Description



This 1988 Ford Mustang GT Hatchback has been in the family since 2000. It has passed an out-of-state inspection for title (KY requirement) by the Bullitt County, KY Sheriff's office.

Originally, this car was black. It has been repainted by a high school auto shop class and is now a silver pearl metallic with light blue racing stripes. The tires have about 50% tread remaining. Shocks, struts & ball joints were replaced in late 2004.

MOTOR. The motor was rebuilt to stock by a local performance shop. It is 30-over roller motor with stock cam. I built this motor to be dependable daily driver getting good gas mileage. Car used to be an automatic so it still has a 2.73 or 3.08 gear in the rear end. With conversion to a 5-speed, the car gets about 24 miles per gallon on the highway. This new motor has 2164 miles on it. New parts include: MSD Billet distributor, MSD blaster coil, injectors, smaller crank pulley, smog pump eliminator pulley, off-road H-pipe, oxygen sensors, aluminum drive shaft, Ford Racing aluminum radiator, speedometer cable, Accel spark plug wires, adjustable clutch cable with firewall adjuster, heater core. Performance parts include: BBK equal length headers, FlowMaster Catback system, cold air induction with K&N filter, Mac chrome upper & lower radiator hose kit. The only thing that does not work on the car is the cruise control - the cruise control cable needs to be replaced.

EXTERIOR. A six-piece clear headlight kit & LX taillights were installed about 1 1/2 years ago. There is a crack in the right rear lens. There are a few minor defects in the paint as you can see from the pictures. Paint is chipping on the front bumper where FORD emblem used to be. There is a small rust area on the right rear wheel well. A few chips exist here and there on the body from normal daily driving. The paint is 3 years old. The front windshield has been replaced and all the other windows are good & clear. A lift is available to serious buyers to inspect underneath the vehicle. There are no holes or rust under the car. Sub-frame connectors have been installed & welded into place.

INTERIOR. The cloth interior is gray. the front seats have seat covers. The covers are old & stained. The drivers seat has a small rip & a few stains. The console is in good condition other than a missing ashtray door. New carpet was installed in 2005. The radio is a Sony CD player. Wires are already run for an amplifier. The headliner could stand to be replaced.

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only because michael asked me to

Three Names You Go By:
1. Charlie
2. Mr. Kelly (at work)
3. Ceptor Jones (gamertag)

Three Things That Scare You:
1. Being a hypocrite and/or a whitewashed tomb (clean on the outside, dirty on the inside) like the Pharisees.
2. Wasting my life by not following God’s leading (and also more specifically, not leading people to Christ.)
3. The idea of bad things happening to my family.

Three of Your Everyday Essentials:
1. Wallet and cell phone (pocket essentials)
2. carabineer – with keys attached
3. my glasses

Three Things You Are Wearing Right Now:
1. red button-up shirt
2. khaki corduroy pants
3. wedding ring (although I think it might as well be considered part of my body at this point.)

Three of Your Favorite Drinks:
1. coke
2. sweet tea
3. hot tea with my Chinese food.

Three of Your Favorite Songs - at the moment:
1. Grace Like Rain – Todd Agnew
2. Some song by Delirious? – but I don’t know the name
3. Willabe Wallabe Woo – by The Wiggles

Three of Your Favorite Artists- at the moment
1. Delirious?
2. Freddie Bruno
3. Reliant K

Three Things You Want in a Relationship (other than Real Love):
1. companionship
2. common beliefs and goals
3. great food

Two Truths and a Lie:
1. I stood next to Ric Flair in the airport (FYI – I hate that wrestling mess)
2. My mother has a star named after her in the official star registry.
3. I love social activities.

Three of Your Favorite Hobbies:
1. X-box 360 online
2. Surfing the internet
3. Reading “Scientific American”

Three Things You want to do really badly right now:
1. Finish doing work/chores and just chill
2. Watch “Cinderella Man” that we rented last night
3. Sell my car

Three Places You Want to go on Vacation:
1. Israel
2. Greece
3. Rome, Italy – not Georgia

Three Things You Want to Do Before You Die:
1. Lead to the Lord and disciple a bazillion people
2. Develop and build an underground bunker facility that is similar in many respects to the bat cave. It will be dimly lit and contain surveillance systems of my house and yard as well as the ability to launch remote control helicopters equipped with cameras, fireworks and smoke bombs. It will be immune to nuclear radiation and have enough supplies to last years. It will contain tunnels to nearby woods in case of enemy occupation.
3. Feel at peace with what my life has accomplished (fought the good fight, finish the race)

Three Ways that you are stereotypically a Chick/Guy:
1. I don’t like to explain my day.
2. Usually, whatever just happened or is going on….it’s not that big of a deal……so just calm the heck down.
3.I like to eat….a lot. (And I also like muscle cars…even though that is not related to eating)

Three people I would like to see take this quiz:
1. Jared Putnum (also known as Jeremy “Weightlifter” Punion)
2. David EUGENE Cox II (Also known as “hey! He’s throwing meximelts at my car!)
3. Tori Kelly (also known as “she who places my son on me to allow him to beat me in the face while I sleep as an amusing way of waking me up” girl.)

funny

Yesterday, at dinner, Micah was eating bread (his favorite). He was eating pieces of hamburger bun. All of a sudden, he started to choke on a piece. He started gagging, and his face began to turn a shade of red. And then, while still choking... he starts putting the NEXT piece of bread in his mouth.

Tuesday Night

Tuesday night was the first night of the G.R.O.W. program at church. I went, the pastor saw me signing in, said "you got a partner?", I said "no", he said "you want to go soul-winning?", I said, "yeah". We went to visit a couple. The man ended up accepting Christ, his wife who was a Christian but had been away from church for 10 years, rededicated her life, and their twin 6 year old girls are now supposed to start coming to KIDZ LIFE on Sunday nights.

When I told this to David, I believe ocrrectly pointed out, God tells you to do something, you are obedient, and bam - He works. It was amazing to see God do that right off the bat. And to think I almost didn't go Tuesday because I had to work very late.

It reminds me of a song I remember learning in Zambia:

A la le sala-landa, A la le sala-landa.
A la le sala-landa, ne-she pali, mu-le ma.

Translation:

When God speaks,
there is a reason.

GA's Move Over Law

I got this in a forward. I thought it was interesting. I supposed this is mostly for David. (Because he is known to be an unsafe driver, and I think mowing down pedestrians is next on the list). (Jared still prefers the T-boning unsuspecting victims approach.) (Charlie prefers, ...oh thats right, Charlie doesn't wreck.)


> > GA's Move Over Law 
> >
> > FYI
> >
> > I just wanted to make sure everyone is aware of a new law in Georgia
> > (well, it has been in effect for about one year). It is called the Move Over
> > Law.
> >
> > This morning, a girl on the radio show was telling about a ticket she
> > received. She said she was on her way to work and saw where a cop had
> > someone pulled over. She said he was walking back to his car, so of course,
> > she
> > slowed down as she passed him. A few seconds later, the cop was pulling
> > her over. He gave her a ticket for not following the law by moving over a
> > lane while passing. She called a week later to find out how much she owed
> > for
> > her ticket, and it was $650! They said the minimum fine is $500!
> >
> > I believe the law is to move over a lane while passing a police car
> > assisting someone, a wrecker, tow truck, etc. Just wanted to make sure
> > everyone
> > was aware of it. I put a link on at the end for all to look at if
> > interested.
> >
> > http://www.gahighwaysafety.org/moveoverlaw.html

My next car

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Prayer Request from NTM missionaries

Some friends of our family, who are former NTM missionaries to Indonesia, have a son who is currently among a previously unreached tribe in Venezuela. He through many years of effort has helped translate the Bible into their language. However, it seems now that the government may make all missionaries leave. Hopefully not...but at least if so, God allowed him to get the Bible translated and national pastors started before they had to leave. Here is the excerpt from the article.

February 3, 2006



CARACAS, Venezuela: Yesterday, the Supreme Court handed down a preliminary decision on the case of New Tribes Mission of Venezuela.

The Court determined not to suspend the effects of the Nov. 14 resolution which gave missionaries 90 days to leave tribal areas. At the same time the Court accepted the request for a hearing on the constitutionality of the resolution.

NTM missionaries will continue their exit from tribal areas in order to meet the February 12 deadline.

The process to overturn the resolution is still ongoing, but the final decision on that count could take up to a year.