To Tell You The Truth

Looking back at the news of the last couple of weeks, I am reminded of the recovery of the 2 young boys that had been abducted in Missouri. One had been missing for several days, another for a few years. Something that's impossible to grasp, unless it has happened to you or yours. A terrifying experience at the very least for one family and purely devastating for another that lived years without knowing the whereabouts of their son...or if he was dead or alive. They have had years stolen from them.

When discussing these events with my very close friend, who lives near the area where the last young boy was abducted, he made memtion of a comment by one of the local churches. The comment was, "the recovery of these boys is proof that God still answers prayer".

My friend, when describing this very common train of thought among many Christians as "vile" and "vulgar", was moved to anger. "What about", he asked, "the prayers for the children who haven't come home? Some of those children most assuredly have parents who are more righteous and prayed more fervently than the parents of these boys and their children are gone, probably forever. Others, are certainly not as righteous as the parents of the boys in the news and their children have been brought back to them...or moreover have never been taken at all". Statements such as the one made by that church, prove nothing but the lack of understanding, stupidity and/or arrogance of the people who make such comments. One cannot possibly say with any certainty, that whether God answers prayer or not, has anything to do with the recovery of these boys. We haven't even discussed the harm that more probably than possibly came to these young ones while being held captive. The extent of that damage has yet to be determined. Did the prayers not work until after a certain period of time? Or until after a certain amount of suffering was endured by the boys or their parents? Was all this to happen in God's own time? To be a proponent of such ideas as truth is vile and vulgar indeed.

God is God and there is only one.
God is truth...He created it.
God is the Lawgiver.
We as a people, society and nation, are to abide by the Laws.
People can and do break these Laws, causing at times, untold harm to themselves and many times, others that were just simply in their path.
Christ redeems us when we confess, believe, repent and change our lives. He provides a "bridge back to God...or to righteousness. Personally, I don't think we have a complete understanding of the extent of what this means.
On that note, we who identify ourselves Christian people, nor anyone else, have not arrived at "all knowledge" or "complete understanding".
If we don't have understanding on an issue, then we have the opportunity and at times the responsibility to go on a quest for the truth. To pursue the answers as doggedly as finding out if the earth was flat or round. And remember that vocal proponents of a "round world" were at times murdered by the firm "flat world" believers for doing what? Telling the truth.

-The Arkanblogger

I Missed the Sign

Have you ever taken a wrong turn, then had to re-trace your steps because you didn't follow a sign? Well, I experienced this on the slopes as we were skiing down the mountain. It started just fine smooth. Nobody was falling, there was no snow falling, and it was a beautiful day. Until we went straight, instead of right. I was with Marie, Elizabeth and Emma Joy. As we were skiing, we all of a sudden came to a hill. But not just any hill, we were looking almost straight down. We had come to the black diamond hill properly named "Northern Lights" (perhaps this is what you see as you are going down?) Now I am not a professional skier, and I was not about to even attempt to ski down this thing. None of us were. So we took off our skis, put them on our shoulders, and hiked up the hill from whence we came. I guess you could call it our one adventure (that is what I kept on saying to everyone as we were hiking up). Marie and I made it to the top first, so I decided to take some video to have as a memory of our wrong turn. It really was not funny at the moment, but we can all laugh at it now. More pictures are coming soon (when I get them all sorted out...)


\

Paige ;)

Real Twin Fiddling

You have heard me talk about the great music, so I thought I would give you a small taste of some of it. I wish I had some of all of it for you to hear, but this will have to do for now. On the fiddles are my cousin, and a good friend. The guitar player is the good friend's Mom. They played quite a few songs, but I personally think this one was one of their best. I hope you enjoy it!

Playing Cards...

Here I learned how to play the wonderful game called "Aww Shucks". It was a bit like spades, but at the end there is a twist (it was a good one). At the other table people were playing "Wizard". This is a game that is also similar to spades and played like hearts. I recommend both of them, especially after a hard day of skiing. Ah, and Uncle Mad has a blog of his own. I am sure he would love for you to stop by!

Round One of the Photos from our Trip

Here are some of the pictures from our trip. These particular ones are from the night of the party. It was my Grandparents 50th anniversary. There were many other pictures taken, but here are some of them. There is one pictures that is not from the party that I will explain. Oh, due to loading issues, they are in no particular order. Hmmm.

This picture is behind the house where we stayed before heading to the cabins. Christopher was quite overwhelmed by its size.


This is Renee playing her beautiful harp. It sounded so lovely!



Here is the whole group playing Pachelbels Canon together. Caitlin is at the piano, our cousin on the violin, and Renee on the harp.


Here is the head chef and chief dishwasher, (both of them my uncles). They did a ton of work trying to get ready for this, as you can see.


This is our wonderful Grandma Caroline. We were at the house at that moment and most of us were busy making the food for the next day.


Oh, the cake was so pretty! Mother Arkanblogger made it.


This is the piano that Grandfather rented for all of us to play on. The touch was so nice!



Mmm...that chocolate fountain was good! There was not much food left by the end of the night.


Here is some more of the wonderful food that was made by the amazing chefs. Thank you so much!


The very creative presentation of the delicious smoked salmon, courtesy of Grandfather and Uncle Dean.


Our dear cousin playing the piano. She did so good!


Observation of the chocolate fountain.


Here are some people talking. Grandfather is among them on the far right.


Here are some more people talking. The one on the left is Bryce, and I am not sure about the one on the right...


More great fellowship going on here.


Here I am with Ms. Anne. It was so wonderful to see them again!


Mr. Roger, Ms. Laura, and Renee. We had such a great time!


Here is the band that played. Our cousin is the one with the fiddle. All of the music was wonderful.


That is round one of the pictures. There are some more to come along with a few videos and posts. Until then, Happy New Year!

Paige and Caitlin