Sick, Travel, and Fly Eagles Fly!

Well, I didn't post for a couple of weeks because I was sick (something going around they everyone is getting!), then I had to catch up from some days off, and then also work ahead a bit as I spent last week In Detroit visiting and helping my in-laws. So a busy couple of weeks!

So how nice it was to just sit and watch the Super Bowl last night, and especially as my Eagles completely dominated the Chiefs! Wow. It wasn't even close. Fly Eagles Fly! (And I loved rubbing that in to one of my catechumens who absolutely hates the Eagles!) 

A couple of pictures . . . 

Gorillas watching the Eagles win!

My daughter and her friends at the watch party at Concordia-Wisconsin.

This was their victory selfie. :-)

AND, to top off the good news, we're supposed to be getting some snow this week! Should be a good week. Busy, but good.

Sunrise

This picture is actually from December . . . a beautiful sunrise down my street as I was leaving for church one Sunday. And the picture doesn't do it justice - it was even more awesome than it looks!

 

March for Life

We had a good day at the March for Life yesterday. We had a good sized LCMS contingent. It was cold but not too cold. Though plans got a monkey wrench thrown in when Vice President JD Vance decided to come and the Secret Service ramped up security, our voice was again heard, that ALL life is valuable and precious and important to God. So even though our District Presidents (or their representatives) didn't get onto the rally stage to close the rally with the singing of the Doxology, we did get to close the Rose Banquet afterward with that and the singing of Abide with Me.

I didn't take any pictures, but here are some that were sent to me . . .

All the DPs with their matching coats.

(If you look closely you can see me in the midst of them. :-)

The Vice President giving remarks.

(Like all the bulletproof glass?)

President Harrison closing the rally.

Longing for the Jungle

My gorillas hangin' out in our Christmas cactus since they miss the jungle.

District Convention

Just got back from our triennial District Convention. Everything went well. Good to see lots of people and talk with them. Three of the four overtures we submitted for consideration passed as resolutions of the District; one did not. I was re-elected as Circuit Visitor, and Grace was re-elected as a member of the Board of Directors. 

I should have taken at least one of my new gorillas down to the Convention with me for a photo op there, but alas! - I thought of it too late, after I had already left. But come back to see where else they go and what else they do. I'll post a new picture tomorrow.

 

Mosaic

So, we took a trip for my birthday into DC to the Museum of the Bible. I had never been, but also they had a special exhibit - the Megiddo Mosaic. A few years back, they discovered one of the earliest Christian worship spaces to date while working to expand a prison. It dates to 230 AD. But what makes it significant is it has the earliest archaeological inscriptions of Jesus as God. This is the first time this mosaic has been outside Israel. 

Here we are outside the Museum of the Bible building.

This is what the structure might have looked like.

This is the mosaic tile. The next to the bottom line has the inscription "to our God Jesus Christ."

It is in Greek, and Jesus Christ is abbreviated, but you can see the common abbreviation there, for Iesu Christo.

This is a larger view of the Mosaic floor.

I'm not sure how long this exhibit will be here, but if you get a chance, go see it! The rest of the museum has some cool stuff, too. Too much for us to see in one day.

Puzzlin'

Who knew?

Gorillas like to do puzzles!

Riding' the Rails!

 

Gorillas goin' for a ride around the Christmas tree!

Reading for 2024

Lots of folks keep track of how many books and pages they've read each year, so I decided to try to do that also in 2024. I don't know if I remembered to write them all down or not, but at the end of the year, I recorded that I had read 19 books and 7,268 pages, for an average of almost 400 pages/book. Is that good? I don't know. Most of my reading is not light reading, and so doesn't go very fast - and I'm not a fast reader anyway. I read mostly theology and history, and some historical novels. I also read a lot of other things, like journals and articles, and that's not included here.

My books for the year? That's hard to say. I liked my reading in medieval history and things that led up to the Reformation. I liked my readings of history (American mostly) and learning more about that. I read an historical novel about what might have happened if Abraham Lincoln had survived the assassination attempt and then been impeached! If you nailed me down and forced me to pick, I'd pick two:

Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin, about Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the rise of media and how they used the media (or not) to influence public opinion and move forward their agendas.

And also The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman, an examination of how we got to where we are in our history as far as our morality and thinking.

So far, for 2025, I'm 500 or so pages into my next book already, a history of the United States between 1812 and 1848. I didn't know (or remember) much about this time period, so it's been quite interesting. How did the US grow and what challenges did it face after the generation of the Founding Father passed? International relations, improved transportation and communications, monetary policy, Indian removal, religious fervor, the presidencies of Andrew Jackson and Matin van Buren - lots of factors!

AND, I've got a stack of books in the queue! I already had a pile, got 7 or so more for Christmas, and then bought 3 more at the used book store. So 2025 could be a very good reading year . . .

Snow Day!

First time out playin' in the snow!

We got somewhere around 9-10 inches of snow overall yesterday. By lunch we measured just under 8 inches on our deck, then the additional snow in the evening was supposed to give us 1-2 inches more. Got most of it cleared at lunch yesterday, so just a little to push out of the way today - shouldn't be too bad. As long as the gorillas behave . . .  :-)

Where did they go next?

 To visit our fish, Elisha and Jonah, and make friends!

Good Quote

I shared this quote that I read recently with my Bible Class yesterday . . .

When we are children, we often receive without gratitude.
When we are adults, we often receive without grace.

That struck me. I know it's true for me. Both gratitude and grace need to be taught.

Visitors

 

The new gorillas visiting one of our Nativity Scenes.

A New Year . . . and New Gorillas!

I can't believe it's been four months since my last post. Wow. Lack of time, lack of motivation, same old reasons. I do have a bunch of stuff to post, though. Maybe I'll get to it! For now, though, maybe something fun to get me back in the swing . . .

Some of you know that I have a rather large collection of gorillas. I have over 100 stuffed, plastic, wooden, etc. gorillas throughout the house. Mostly all different - only 1 or 2 are duplicates. I got two lego gorillas for Christmas to add to the collection. These are not officially designed lego models, but something an individual designed and sold. My wife and daughter found them online and they arrived a couple days after Christmas. Here they are . . .

No, I haven't named them yet (maybe you could offer suggestions in the comments!). I'm going to post more pictures of them as they explore my house and go on adventures . . . What will tey do? Where will they go? Stayed tuned!