Living on one Dollar

I like documentaries and I just watched one you should see.

I is called "Living on one Dollar" and it is about four college guys who tried living in a village in Guatemala for two months.  During that time, they attempted to learn about the lives of the people and they tried to live under the same circumstances and restrictions as those around them.

If you have "Netfix" and an hour, go and check it out.  It will change the way you see your life and the way you think about the world.... and that is a good thing because it is easy to think that everyone lives like us or that (somehow) our lives are hard when they really are not at all.

Or go to their website and check them out here......  http://livingonone.org/livingonone/

Yahoo!!

A buddy of mine had a 2000 Dodge Durango that had turned a bearing, so he and I decided to tear it apart and fix it.  Then, once we got started, we decided rather that fixing that one problem, we may as well rebuild the entire engine.   That was in November.  After four months of working on it most Fridays (my day off), taking out every part and piece, having the block dipped and cleaned and then putting it all back together, yesterday was "D day".  Here is what we got........

Glow Bowling O-Rama

So we all went bowling last night. It was a lot of fun!  I won't tell you who is who on the scoreboard... I will let you try to figure it out.  :)

You know it is cold when.....

You know it is cold when the sun dogs are so bright that you can't stare at them.  Yikers!

Sari Snowblower

Sari learned a new skill today.  For all your snow removal needs, call.......  :)

Bienfait Hockey Tournament

So I got to play in a charity hockey tournament in Bienfait this weekend. A team dropped out and they just started calling guys to make up the fourth team.

That was a bad thing!

None of us had played together before. In fact, most of us could not remember the names of the other guys on the team and we were playing three teams that were very strong.... good players who have played together forever.

Needless to say, we got whipped.

 I think we lost 12-0 in our first game (we were just trying to figure out who was playing where in that one).... then we lost 8-4 (started playing consistent lines and figuring things out a bit).... then we lost 8-2 (but the good news for me is that I scored both of our goals.... I should have had a third but their goalie made a nice glove save).

Anyway, below is a little bit of the "action" (if you can call it that) that Sari recorded in the beautiful "Bienfait Memorial Arena". I am number 17 in white. In fact, I am the only guy wearing a white helmet... Something that Sari noted and rectified by buying me a nice, new, shiny black one for Valentine's Day. After wearing the old one for 25 years, it was time I guess (besides, now I fit in a little better with my friends!) :)

You need to hear this

I have been meaning to post this song for a long time, so when I heard it on the way home today I decided to look it up.

As the Dad of two beautiful and wonderful girls and the husband of another.... I hope they get this.  :)

Have a listen.....

See what we saw!

Yesterday Sari and I took a drive in the country.  Here is what we found.....

We came across this old coal mine.....

 Talking to the old guys at church today, I found out that this is a rebuilt mine entrance... it is not original and there was even some debate as to whether there was ever a coal mine in that spot (three said yes another said that he was not sure).... but they all agreed that it is a good representation of what the old mines looked like around here..... and there used to be hundreds of them.  Funny thing is, I have driven the valley a lot and I have never seen that before.

We found several old abandoned farm yards.  Lots of stone foundation barns.  We even found one beautiful old, huge, two story house in the valley bottom right by the river.  Would have been very impressive when it was occupied, but for some reason we did not get a picture of it.  Here are a few that Sari did take.....

Then we kept coming across old cars and stuff in people's yards.   Here is a good project for someone (I am sure a little buffing would make it look good again)......

 These will take a little more effort.....

We did not see many people on our tour. In fact, this guy is about the only living thing that paid much attention to us (it was getting to be near supper time for him I think as he was really interested in what we were up to)......

And the photographer out snooping around (When you see her next, ask her about getting lost in North Portal)  :)

 As I said, there was a lot more cool stuff that we did not stop and take pictures of just for time's sake as we gone for about three hours as it was.... but there were lots of picture worthy things like old houses, the river snaking across the valley, interesting looking old trees, hawks flying around, former town sites, kids sledding down a hill, etc etc).

There are cool and interesting things everywhere.... you just have to look for them. 

Well, its been awkward!

For those who don't know, our church baptizes people in a big water tank in our church building.  The process looks something like this......

Ok - it looks like that except we are inside, I have less hair than that dude and we usually don't have some blonde kid looking over our shoulders.  Other than that, it is similar.  I go into the water with the people and we "immerse" them.

The problem is that we don't have fancy, white baptismal clothes like the dudes in the picture.  We used to, but, honestly, it is hard to find "one size fits all" clothing that actually fits all and works well when wet.... so now I just tell people to wear whatever they want and we just go from there.

Well, two weeks ago I was about to baptize this really nice couple who has been coming to church for the last couple of years.  They invited their adult kids to come and they wanted me to explain to them what baptism was all about so that they would understand.

So there I was, standing in front of about 20 family members, explaining something that we believe is very important.  All was going well... until I got to the end of my explanation.

I had previously decided that I would not get changed before I baptized them.  It was Sunday afternoon and I was still wearing the dress clothes that I had worn to church that morning and I figured I would just go in the water wearing those.  Therefore, when it came time for the baptism I simply reached up and (while still talking) started undoing my tie.  Then, taking my eyes off the group, I bent over and took off my shoes.

And then everyone got really quiet

When I looked up again the entire family had this "I am not sure what baptism is all about but if he does not stop taking things off we are leaving"  sort of look on their faces. 

Feeling like I maybe made a bit of a mistake and looking for some assurance, I turned to Sari and the girls..... they were giving me the wide-eyed, "Please stop what you are doing.... RIGHT NOW!!!!" look.

So apparently there is a reason why we have change rooms.

People are such prudes!!!   :)