Yesterday I had the radio on in the afternoon and there was newsbreak that came on about a country intersection in our area being closed because there was a motorcyle fatality.  This morning, I was utterly and completely saddened to find out that it was a friend of ours.  The father of a local, wonderful homeschool family.

Please pray for the Times family.  The dear wife, LaNelle, is now left 3 fantastic kids and, they just found out a few weeks ago, another sweet baby on the way. 

Forrest was such a great guy - wonderful man of God, loving husband and daddy and ALWAYS smiling.  He will be missed by everyone who knew him.  If you are a local homeschooler to my area, I will be posting service information on the McCHEO blog as soon as I know anything.

Blessings from Ohio, Kim Wolf<><

Could it be from a full day at Kentucky KIngdom yesterday?

Or possibly shucking, washing, parboiling, cutting off the cob and freezing 150 ears of corn today?

As is my usual habit (it may well be a dumb habit), I picked up this book randomly from the library’s new book shelf.  Based on the title, and the summary, I thought it would be interesting.  I realized from the summary that the author certainly held a very, very liberal theology (“bringing back the female side of God”) but I thought there might be a few good points.  I certainly recognize that folks of every stripe have hijacked the name of Jesus to promote their own doctrines, and Christianity is plagued with false teachers, hucksters, and hypocrites.  It was clear that I would end up disagreeing with many of the author’s conclusions.  That is generally not a problem for me, as I love a good debate, even if I’m holding it with a book.  

Unfortunately, what I hoped would be a well thought-out, persuasive, interesting book turned out to be poorly written screed against all things evangelical and conservative.  Mcelvaine either misunderstands or deliberately misinterprets evangelical beliefs and what it means to be a Biblical literalist.  He rightly points out the insanity in certain segments of Christianity which proclaim to the world that “God wants us to be rich!”  He rightly reminds us of the social teachings of the Gospel, a principal one being caring for the poor in a self-sacrificial way.   He is rightly outraged by the hypocrisy of calling something a perversion from the pulpit while engaging in that very behavior in private life.  He is absolutely correct that such things are corruptions of the Gospel.

Sadly, that's as far as reason goes in the book.  The bulk of the book is written with constant, very dull-witted attempts at word play and punning.  He might as well have stamped in red ink “I hate Bush” on every page, for the number of times he manages to work in his disdain for our President (which respectful title is notably missing throughout the book in favor of the sneering ‘George W. Bush’ or ‘thief-in-chief’).  Dr. James Dobson gets similar treatment, oddly (and wrongly) lumped in with televangelist snake-oil salesmen.  Mcelvaine does exactly what he accuses evangelicals of, at the opposite extreme.  His book reads like Anne Coulter’s would if she were liberal instead of conservative.  Grand Theft Jesus is full of the broad-brushed generalizations and name-calling that it condemns from Ms. Coulter and other conservative authors.  He misinterprets (whether it’s intentional or not) beliefs and twists them in order to fit his assumptions of evangelical Christians and social conservatives.  He exaggerates, misrepresents, and denigrates wildly and in many instances undeservedly.  In some cases the book is downright deceptive about the beliefs of certain high-profile Evangelicals.  Anyone who has listened to Focus on the Family or read any of Dr. Dobson’s materials would know that he most certainly does not preach against contraception as a universal evil, and does not believe that women must spend their lives barefoot, pregnant, and miserable.  FotF will not even outright condemn the Pill, asserting that there is no real proof that it is abortifacient (How do I know this?  I emailed and asked them directly)  Yet, reading the book, one would have no choice but to assume that Dobson believes and teaches such things.  

Some of Mcelvaines "facts" are either patent lies or tortuous stretching of the truth.  From reading the book, one might imagine Timothy McVeigh was a fundamentalist or evangelical Christian.  Maggie Gallagher has a good explanation for why that's an untruth.   And even a passing knowledge of McVeigh gives no impression of any kind of Christianity whatsoever.  The statements he made and the literature he was interested in point strongly towards agnosticism.  Likewise, Fred Phelps is presented in the book as only slightly worse than James Dobson, the implication being that Dobson is a quiet but vicious hater, while Phelps takes his hatred to the streets with great noise and gusto. 

Mcelvaine condemns evangelicals for picking and choosing which portions of the Bible they take literally and seriously, while he himself does the very same thing, and worse.  He assumes that “free grace” is “cheap grace” to all of us, and decides that because we believe we cannot be saved by works, we therefore do not believe good works matter at all.  

What I find absolutely fascinating is that Grand Theft Jesus completely ignores some of the most high-profile and well known “name it and claim it” wealth preachers out there.  At first, when I noticed this, I thought, “Surely not!”  I combed through the book, and through the index, looking for names of folks that I know preach that God wants us all to be wealthy.  How odd that I did not see the name of T.D. Jakes, Juanita Bynum, or Eddie Long.  Do you know what the common denominator is?  They’re all “minorities”, or “people of color”.  According to Mcelvaine's definition of “Christianity Lite” these people should be on the top 10 of worst offenders.  Yet somehow, they escape even a mention in the book.  Is Mcelvaine only brave enough to pick on elderly  (in one case, deceased) white males?  Are minorities immune from criticism?  And since he roundly lambasted various right-wing folks for intimating that 9/11 and Katrina might be God’s judgment, why did he not also condemn the Reverend Jeremiah Wright for doing exactly the same thing?  Surely Mcelvaine did not somehow miss the widely broadcast “God #@$% America” sermon from Wright’s pulpit.  

This obvious bias, packaged with the constant forced attempts at humor, twisting of hymns, revision of Scripture (to mirror Mcelvaine’s assumptions of what conservatives believe), and general poor writing made the book not worth reading, unless one likes to chuckle at the literary antics of the ignorant.  Grand Theft Jesus reads more like a series of hate-blog rants than a well-researched and well-considered book.  It’s really a shame, because had Mcelvaine gotten past the fog of his own bias and rage, he could have taken the concept in a very different and much more valid direction.

I have to keep telling myself that! If you're wondering where I've been....it's HERE:

This is what WAS our front porch! I'll spare you the details but, suffice it to say, one thing leads to another.

Anyhoo...since there are only so many warm days left, I'm getting a bit worried about getting this project done. I'm trying to work in the mornings and sand/paint in the afternoons.

Here we are with things getting even worse. Did I mention I'm the only one doing this? My husband is in harvest now, so the porch will remain that way until late August! lol Actually, I finally broke down and hired a young man to help sand, but he's working on the massive wall on the left side (that you can't see) This is all my "handiwork".

This is the nifty bench handy hubby made me so I can reach up to the corbels. Unfortunately, it is about six inches too short. I can reach everything except the front soffit board, which needs sanded as well. I'm just going to ignore it for now, though.  Oh!! And there are birds in that hole on the left, so we can't cover it up until the babies fly out. They freak me out because they rustle around when I'm working there and I always think they're going to come out and attack me - or Momma Bird is. She's not happy about this whole thing. But I'm not happy they're there, so we're even. lol We'd covered the rest of the holes w/fiberglass long ago and it held up well. This one still had a plug, which fell out.

 I painted the bottom front. Yay! I've decided that, for my mental stability as well as physical well-being (sanding is HARD, hot, dirty work!) I'll have to see progress and paint as I go.

Here are the colors. The body is Mochachino, trim is Chocolate Cupcake, Accents are Port and Porch rails and inside windows are Creamy White.

I actually got the body coat on the top front last night. Between MORE sanding, scrubbing the filthy corbels and moulding, priming and painting, I was on the porch from 2 - 8:30 pm!! I didn't take a pic yet, because it doesn't really look that good w/o the window trim done. Today is shot with activities, but I' hoping to get the rest of the top completely done this weekend. May be overambitious, but one can hope! lol Actually, my family was making fun of me last night because I wouldn't come in until I had the front painted.

There are times when a small house would be infitely more desirable. This is one of those times. :-) Still, I know that by doing this ourselves we are saving between $20,000 and $30,000. (Is that CRAZY or what??!! I think I'm in the wrong business. No. I wouldn't want to do this for a living)

__,_._,___

A few people have asked for the pickle recipe I used in canning cucumbers this week.  My recipe came straight from Complete Guide to Home Canning, Part 6, which is where most of my canning/freezing recipes come from.  I found mine for free at the local extension office.

A quick disclaimer:  If you're hoping for dill pickles like you buy at the grocery, this isn't the recipe.  I have yet to find a recipe that makes them taste like store-bought.  On the other hand, everything in the store seems to have Polysorbate-80 as an ingredient.  I have no idea if that's what makes the taste difference or not, but I prefer plain old sugar.  Anywho, these pickles are delicious, but have a little different twang to them.  I wanted to be sure you knew!

Oh, and it DOES make a difference to cut off the blossom end.  Your pickles will be much firmer.  Again, these aren't going to be quite as crisp as Vlasic pickles, but done correctly, they shouldn't be limp either.  And, cut the cucumbers up as you like - slices, spears, wholes.  These were cut into slices because they were a tad bigger than the typical 3-5" pickling cucumbers.  Plus, the jar holds more this way and jars are expensive!

Okay, on to the recipe....

Quick Fresh-Pack Dill Pickles

• 18 lbs of 3- to 5-inch pickling cucumbers
• 2 gals water
• 1¼ cups canning or pickling salt
• 1½ qts vinegar (5 percent)
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 quarts water
• 2 tbsp whole mixed pickling spice
• 5 tbsp whole mustard seed (2 tsp per quart jar)
• 21 heads of fresh dill (3 heads per quart jar)
  or 7 tbsp dill seed (1 tbsp per quart jar)

Yield: 7 quarts

Please read Using Boiling Water Canners before beginning. If this is your first time canning, it is recommended that you read Principles of Home Canning.

Procedure: Wash cucumbers. Cut 1/16-inch slice off blossom end and discard, but leave ¼-inch of stem attached. Dissolve ¾ cup salt in 2 gals water. Pour over cucumbers and let stand 12 hours. Drain. Combine vinegar, ½ cup salt, sugar and 2 quarts water. Add mixed pickling spices tied in a clean white cloth. Heat to boiling. Fill jars with cucumbers. Add 2 tsp mustard seed and 1 tbsp dill per quart. Cover with boiling pickling solution, leaving ½-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process according to the recommendations in Table 1 or use the low- temperature pasteurization treatment. For more information see "Low-Temperature Pasteurization Treatment" .

This document was adapted from the "Complete Guide to Home Canning," Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 539, USDA, revised 1994.

Reviewed June 2006.

This week, Jennifer wants to know about other activities in the Disney/Orlando area.  When we get down there, we are all about Disney, BUT we do occasionally venture out in search of other entertainment. 

It has become a bit of a tradition to stop by Old Town - it's right along the Irlo-Bronson Memorial Highway, which runs through Kissimmee.  We stayed in a hotel right across from it on one of our earliest trips. 

On our last trip, we spent our first night at the Days Inn right beside Old Town (while waiting to get into our timeshare for the remainder of our vacation).  We met up with some friends and had dinner together at Old Town and enjoyed walking around in the carnival-like atmosphere.

Another place that I had always wanted to visit was Sea World.  So, on our last trip to the area, we decided to add Sea World to our week's activities.  I must say that, compared to a Disney park, I wasn't impressed with the layout of Sea World.  Rather than being laid out in an organized manner as the Disney parks are, Sea World is much more like a maze.  I found it hard to navigate and to get from point A to point B in time to see various shows, etc.  I would definitely recommend a 2-day pass to this park if you're really wanting to see it all.

 The Shamu character is nothing like the characters at Disney either, but he certainly is cuddly and the girls enjoys snuggling up to him for a picture.

One of my favorite pictures from our last Florida trip is this one, to the left.  The  girls are watching some flamingos and other birds.  For once, they had both sat still enough to allow me to braid their hair.  That is very unual for Gracie, who never wants anything in her hair!  A rare day indeed!

Gracie is still a bit miffed at me because I actually got to touch a dolphin!  If you're interested, they feel very smooth and slippery.  One of these days, we'll have to save up enough money to go to Discovery Cove and swim with the dolphins because the girls and I are all very attracted to them!

Just a word of Sea World warning:  if you go to the Whale Show and you do not want to get wet, DO NOT SIT IN THE SOAK ZONE!  Even if your husband happens to say "oh, the water will never come up here to these top rows of the soak zone", don't believe him!  They wait 'til the  very end and bring out the biggest whale of all; and, trust me, the water will come up there and YOU WILL GET WET!  (I'm in the middle of this picture, holding Gracie who was screaming! Notice the lady a few rows in front of us in the black hat, turning around staring at us! LOL  Photo courtesy of my parents who were intelligent enough to take the signs seriously!)

We haven't tried any of the dinner theaters or other Orlando attractions, but I'm interested in reading what others have to say about them.  If you're interested to, be sure to stop by Jennifer's blog and read everyone's posts.