We’re at the annual Hinshaw Celebration, Friday, in Durham, NC. Should be a good time! We got to reconnect with several Hinshaw friends at the composer/clinician dinner tonight, and met some new friends as well. The Hinshaw world really is very family-like, with a lot of really neat people.
Several of my pieces will be presented [...]

With the opening of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing a week away, I thought I’d share some pictures of the landscaping that’s been going on around China in preparation for visitors from all around the world. Some articles that I’ve read have called this “greenwashing” - an attempt to purify the image of wide-spread pollution [...]

This evening, I experienced another first in married life: I cut Lincoln’s hair. There aren’t any pictures of the event, since no one else was there, but I don’t think he looks too bad. . . . Lincoln assures me I did a fine job. It took a long time, but Lincoln has very thick [...]

Some years ago I heard a dear older missionary read a poem about going back to the field, and it had the recurring line, “I’m going back. Are you?” I’ve tried googling that line and other search possibilities, but I can’t find it. Has anyone else heard of it or know any more about it?
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I had enjoyed all of Robin Jones Gunn’s Sisterchicks series, so when I saw a new release from Robin titled Peculiar Treasures, I picked it up.
If I had realized it was a continuation of the Christy Miller series, aimed, I think, at teens and younger women, I probably wouldn’t have picked it up since I [...]

“Designers sometimes don’t do things that are immediately functional but they are functional to our understanding of issues.” –Paola Antonelli, from TED talks 2008…

I have a ridiculous idea for next years’ Comic-Con: a guy in a suit.

Specifically, Ben Kammer in a suit. I designed it on our turbulent plane ride back.

Behold:

We’ll see. At least it wouldn’t be half as bizarre as that guy with a Curious George doll trying to get people to high five it.

My wife and I have often thought about homeschooling, but have always “chickened out.” Well, as the school year approaches, we are again thinking about homeschooling. We like the current school where our children attend, so it is not something against them, but we are thinking of making the switch this year.

We have a 6th grader, 4th grader, and a 4 year old. We are thinking of using the BJU Hard Drive Distance Learning option for this year, but are still thinking. I recognize that some hardcore homeschooling families will probably think this is a cop-out, but in our situation we are thinking this may be a way to see how we like educating them at home without overwhelming us. It looks Missy will still have to work some - even with not having the expense of Christian School - so I would be involved with this as well. (Of course, I would still like to be involved even if the Lord somehow provided in such a way that Missy did not have to work at all.)

Anyway, I am not looking for a big debate about homeschooling. I am aware of many positives and negatives from having worked with a number of homeschooling families over the years. I am more interested in hearing about the following things:

1. Is anyone familiar enough with the BJU Hard Drive system to offer some thoughts regarding it? (Also, we have heard that you can get a good deal by going to one of the “hotel meetings.” The closest one to us is about three hours away - are the deals enough to make such a trip worth it?)

2. Any thoughts or advice for a family thinking of making the move in our situation?

3. One of the reasons we are considering this move is to give some more focused attention to one of our children who is struggling academically. In doing so, we are also trying to decide if it is a better option to have her stay in the grade she would be in if she stayed at the school and work extra with her to shore up the weak areas or if we should have her repeat the grade she just completed.

4. At Hardingville, we had a large church with a number of opportunities outside of school for the children to have interaction with others. I believe the homeschoolers at HBC who were involved with King’s Kids and Youth Group got “the best of both worlds” in regards to time at home and interaction. Our little church does not yet have these options. Should this be a concern?

Anyway, I would love to hear some input.

Thanks,

Frank

Okay, so here I am checking in again, partially due to a humorous situation from yesterday and today. The story is this - I have a Facebook account, but I haven’t been on it for the last 2 months or so since before school let out for the summer. Yesterday, when I got on it, I changed my status message to say that I’m wondering if my Facebook account is going to be like my blog – something I almost never touch. Shortly after that, someone posted to my wall, “What’s your blog?” My response was - something I almost never use or post on. I had to laugh since someone was wanting to see my blog, which I was slightly embarrassed to say had not been touched recently either.

So here I am now in the midst of all the busy-ness of the summer, posting now on my blog. Life is about change, and change is what’s happening right now. Our pastor recently resigned to become a VP at Clearwater Christian College, and his last day was this past Sunday. Now we begin the arduous journey of finding the next pastor, and there are questions and rumors everywhere. Who’s doing this? Who’s responsible for that? Are you leaving? Any word on what the pulpit committee’s doing? Argh!!! But that’s life.

The best part about life is that we have a God who cares. A God who cares enough to keep caring, no matter what situation we’re in. A God who’s good enough and powerful enough to work everything out for the good (in the end) of those who love God and are the called. Psalm 18:31 says, “For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?” Psalm 107 begins, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” Our God is great, but our God is also good. On Him, we can always depend!