Mín Englisc Blog

Tomorrow is the last day for the blog contest before ECHO. Of course, you may post on Thursday, and you may post if possible while on the trip, but after tomorrow you won't need to post until after the end of the trip.

Authorities have now released the identity of the shooter in the Bellefontaine murder-suicide: eighteen-year-old Scott Moody. Apparently, following a graduation party, Scott went down the road and killed his grandparents. Then, he returned, shooting his mother, sister, friends, and finally himself.
His sister, perhaps fearing to implicate her brother, called a stepsister, saying that she'd been beaten. When the stepsister came over to the house, she feared only for her mother, since the wounded girl had said that her mother had no pulse. I cannot imagine the horror she felt as she found her brother's body, possibly still holding the rifle. "Oh my God!" she screamed on the 911 tape as she came on him, and I would have done the same. Were we in her place, would we not all say, "Would to God this were a nightmare!"

Now, as the night has fallen over central Ohio, Stacy Moody lies in a hospital bed, far from home, fighting for life.

Today is Memorial Day.

You may have seen something on the news yesterday or today in my area. Yesterday morning, seven people were shot just west of Bellefontaine, my county seat, and only one survived. Dead are a woman, her parents, her son, and two of her daughter's friends; her daughter is (to my knowledge) still alive at The Ohio State University Medical Center. The daughter, fifteen years old, was the one who called police, despite being shot in the neck. These people lived in Riverside School District — and graduation was yesterday, including the son and one of the daughter's friends. Sheriff Michael Henry believes the shootings to be a murder-suicide.

Because this is the last week of the month, today was our usual fellowship lunch and 1:30 worship. Dad preached from two familiar passages today: I Samuel 17 (David and Goliath) in the morning, and John 3:18-20 (immediately after John 3:16) in the afternoon. Attendance (47 people) was much better this week, due to some out-of-town visitors.

BLOGS Due to ECHO, there will be no blog ratings for the next two weeks.
1. Bekah*: 7 posts, on 7 days.
2. Rebekah*: 7 posts, on 7 days.
3. Katie: 7 posts, on 5 days.
4. Anna: 7 posts, on 4 days.
5. David: 3 posts, on 3 days.
6. Becca: 3 posts, on 2 days.
7. Nathan: 2 posts, on 2 days.
8. Charity: 1 posts, on 1 days.
9. Allen: 0 posts, on 0 days. Last post 11 May.
10. Joseph: 0 posts, on 0 days. Last post 5 May.
11. Abby: 0 posts, on 0 days. Last post 7 April.

Today are the annual Saturday-before-Memorial-Day village yardsales. I'm currently the only one at home, as Mom and Dad went walking around, and Isaac's on his bike, at who-knows-where.
Recently, when Dad and his siblings were working on my grandparents' condominium, some papers were brought here. Among them were all of Grandmother's genealogical papers and computer programs, on which she had worked for many years. All of this has now been entrusted to me, since I like genealogy. Although most of the papers are either original documents, photocopies thereof, or Grandmother's summaries, there are a few other items. Here's a poem that I found amid these papers:

THE ELUSIVE ANCESTOR
by Merrell Kenworthy

I went searching for an ancestor, I cannot find him still.
He moved around from place to place and did not leave a will.
He married where a courthouse burned. He mended all his fences.
He avoided any man who came to take the census.

He always kept his luggage packed, this man who had no fame,
And every 20 years or so, this rascal changed his name.
His parents came from Europe. They should be on some list
Of passengers to U. S. A., but somehow they got missed.

And no one else in this world is searching for this man,
So I play geneasolitaire to find him if I can.
I'm told he's buried in some plot, with tombstone he was blessed;
But weather took engraving, and some vandals took the rest.

He died before the county clerks decided to keep records.
No family Bible has emerged, in spite of all my efforts.
To top it off this ancestor, who caused me many groans,
Just to give me one more pain, betrothed a girl named JONES.

Today wasn't a horrible day, as Grandmother was doing somewhat better than average. She's still not the best, however. Besides visiting her and Grumps, we ate lunch in the Finneytown area, near their old house. After that, we went to Fernwell, their old street, to look at the house. It's been almost four years since they moved out.
On the way to Cincinnati, we stopped at Tecumseh Council offices in Springfield, where I dropped off my Eagle application. How good it is to be done with my work for Eagle!
Because it's over two hours' drive to Cincinnati each way, Dad had me drive from home to Springfield, and from Middletown (between Cincinnati and Dayton) to home. That amounted to almost exactly three hours' driving altogether. I had all different types of situations, ranging from country roads to interstate highway in downtown Dayton, from sunny to moderate rain, from nobody in sight to rush hour.

Today was not unusual: mowing (two lawns), stamp work, some computer. Two days ago I installed Railroad Tycoon (a program from 1990!) and have been playing it a bit since. Today I built a railroad from Burns, Oregon, all to way to San Diego, California. It's good that I saved, because my railroad began to fail shortly afterwards when I expanded to Needles and to Las Vegas.
Tomorrow morning, Dad and I are leaving for Cincinnati to visit my grandparents. On the way, I'll submit my Eagle application, because tomorrow all my requirements for Eagle are completed!

I passed the Scoutmaster conference!

This counts for Thursday's post.

Tonight is my Scoutmaster Conference for Eagle Scout. With this completed, I'll be able to submit paperwork for an Eagle board of review on Friday. I'm hoping to get this board by the end of June.

Answer me this: Which party has more U.S. Senators?

Well, Reds management seems to agree with me. The 11:00 news said that Graves effectively has been released. Too bad that they need to release the franchise record-holder for saves, the man who has gotten saves in nearly ¼ of their games this year, but he's just been horrible recently — his ERA for May is somewhere around 11.00.
While I mowed early this afternoon, Mom and Dad went to Bellefontaine. As I expected, they came home with Mom wearing glasses. I've never seen her wearing glasses (other than sunglasses) before, but she really doesn't look too different from normal. The glasses are necessary because of slight farsightedness and an astigmatism.
Tonight was a night of paperwork, as Mom and I worked on Geneva admissions material. We worked through everything from roommates to meal plans. Everything is now complete except for certain medical material, which will require a physical exam and a doctor's appointment.
After finishing work on admissions, I turned to my Eagle project guidebook. PRAISE THE LORD that my project book is now complete! When I joined Scouts in September of 2003, I never thought that I would reach this stage. Dad and I knew that I could get First Class, we expected that I could probably get Star, and we thought that I could just maybe get Life, but only with a ton of hard work. Eagle we didn't even consider. But here I am, Eagle project complete, all merit badges complete, and all other requirements will be complete in four days. What a glorious work of God!

It's time to cut Danny Graves! Yesterday, he pitched for 1/3 inning, giving up four hits and FIVE runs. After the game, he replied to booing fans by waving his hand at them — with four fingers concealed.

Dad preached today (as he did last night, and as he will do this evening) from Psalm 118. I forgot to mention that this is apparently another tradition, having the preacher do a special sermon series for the Communion Season. We had rather low attendance today, only 36. This was due partially to illness, but I wonder if it were do to the communion service; none of our regular adherents were present.
Last week I repeated my question about David and Saul (see last week's post) because of lack of interest. Although I received only one more reply, I decided to stop reasking the question, lest everyone forget it.
I believe that David was not wrong in accepting a position under Saul, even though Saul had already been rejected as king by God. Why? Granted, there's no statement in the Bible that approve's David's service to Saul, and nowhere does God command David to enter Saul's service. We could look at Hebrews 11, where David is commended for his actions; however, Samson is also commended, and obviously some of his actions were not approved by God! I would look at I Samuel 18, where we see (twice) that "the LORD was with David" in his actions as a military leader under Saul.
You may ask, "What does this matter for us?" As a matter of fact, one hundred years ago, my answer to the above question would possibly have gotten me thrown out of the RPCNA.
Our denomination was typified, above all else, in the belief that it was sinful to participate at all in the government of the United States, of Scotland, or of the rest of the United Kingdom. Why? During the 1500s and 1600s, the kings of Scotland and England had sworn (with parliamentary approval) a set of covenants establishing the Kirk (Church) of Scotland. When the kings and parliaments began to oppose these covenants, a party in the Kirk, called the Covenanters, denounced the government as unlawful and illegitimate. They even held it sinful to pay taxes to the government! When these Covenanters came to this country, they always considered our government subject to these same covenants, because the USA was a group of English colonies at the time that England's government adopted the covenants. When these Covenanters formed a distinct church in this country, called the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, they continued to oppose the government (although less strongly, they happily paid taxes and enlisted in the army) and excommunicated anyone who voted or held political office.
This essay was basically to say: Regardless of the legality and validity of a government, I believe that serving in that government (unless ordered to commit an otherwise sinful action) is allowed by the word of God.

BLOGS
1. Rebekah*: 7 posts, on 7 days.
2. Katie: 6 posts, on 5 days.
3. Charity: 5 posts, on 5 days.
4. Bekah*: 5 posts, on 5 days.
5. Anna: 4 posts, on 3 days.
6. Becca: 4 posts, on 3 days.
7. Nathan: 2 posts, on 2 days.
8. David: 2 posts, on 2 days.
9. Allen: 0 posts, on 0 days. Last post 11 May.
10. Joseph: 0 posts, on 0 days. Last post 5 May.
11. Abby: 0 posts, on 0 days. Last post 7 April.

Dad returned from North Carolina this afternoon. He had a decent time, although he slept poorly. Among other things, he brought back a book from one of the second cousins. He also brought a big bag of specialty food, a gift from another member of Presbytery; I'd mention what kind of food, but it might reveal the giver.
Tonight was our preparatory service for tomorrow's communion service. I should explain: hundreds of years ago, in Scotland, there were far more RPs than ministers; at one point, there was only one minister for RPs all over Scotland. Since only the minister could administer communion, it was held very infrequently. Since it was such a big event, the congregation would have special services before and after the Communion Sabbath. Since we're an old congregation, we still retain some of these practices, useful in their day, but pointless in ours. At least we only have one preparatory service per semi-annual "Communion Season."

Safety post for Saturday.

DETROIT 87
INDIANA 79
TIME 00:00
PERIOD 4

YEARS 18

Dad left today for a meeting of Presbytery down at Triangle RP in Durham, NC. Actually, Presbytery doesn't meet until late tomorrow, but he has a couple of second cousins in the Raleigh-Durham area, and he wanted to visit with them. He's staying with one cousin, Mrs. Rosemarie Kitchin, tonight, and both of them are dining tonight with other cousins, Frank & Dolly Pokrass. Mrs. Kitchin and Mr. Pokrass are second cousins to each other, as well as to Dad. Confusing, isn't it?

I forgot to mention that I received one scholarship yesterday. Let's pray for more!
Today I'll need to mow at least one lawn, probably two.

Tonight's troop meeting went decently. Instead of the normal meeting format, we had a swimming night at the local YMCA. For the final time, we postponed a patrol split until next week, since there were still a few unresolved issues. Next week is definitely FINAL!
I mowed one lawn today. Nothing else interesting happened. As normal :-)

Today has mostly been a day of catching up from the Hocking Hills trip and of working on stamps. Because the grass was quite wet, I had no mowing today. Of course, since we have fourteen lawns this week, that will probably change tomorrow :-(

Dad preached from chapter 16 of I Samuel this morning. The chapter covers David's anointing and selection for Saul's household. Once again, since I received no answers last time, I pose this question: was it wrong for David to enter the service of Saul?

BLOGS
1. Katie: 8 posts, on 7 days.
2. Rebekah*: 7 posts, on 7 days.
3. Bekah*: 6 posts, on 6 days.
4. Becca: 5 posts, on 3 days.
5. Anna: 3 posts, on 2 days.
6. Charity: 1 posts, on 1 days.
7. David: 2 posts, on 2 days.
8. Nathan: 1 posts, on 1 days.
9. Allen: 1 posts, on 1 days.
10. Joseph: 0 posts, on 0 days. Last post 5 May.
11. Abby: 0 posts, on 0 days. Last post 7 April.

We're back. Due to a rule of which we were previously unaware, we were prohibited from camping, so everyone had to squeeze into the cabin overnight. The scenery was great, but there were several interpersonal matters that could use serious work. On the other hand, four boys earned the Tenderfoot rank, the first earned after joining, including one boy who joined back in August.

This evening we leave for our Hocking Hills trip. Let's hope that things go without problems; we probably won't arrive in the area until it's nearly dark, and we'll need to set up tents. Did I mention that severe thunderstorms are possible tonight?
Mom just left for an ophthalmologist's appointment. She's never had eye problems, but recently she's been getting headaches when trying to read. I can't imagine what Mom would look like with glasses. Let's just hope that she won't need them.
I hope to post late tomorrow. If something happens and I don't, well, the contest will be down to Rebekah Nelson and Rebekah Ray.

Today saw sprinkles throughout the day as we tried to mow. Despite the rain, we were able to complete all lawns: Isaac at church, Mom trimming at one house, and me mowing at two houses. I started the first lawn at 1:00 and finished the second before 3:30 — now that's fast work! In all fairness, Mom wanted me to mow in the fastest way possible and to try to avoid leaving clippings.
Tomorrow and Saturday is our Hocking Hills trip. Please pray for better weather than predicted: we're supposed to receive rain much of tomorrow and all of Saturday. Not what we want when we're hiking on woodland trails. While this is on my mind, thanks for your prayers for our last campout. I don't remember if I mentioned this, but last campout we had little rain in the evening and nothing the next morning.
Dad was gone again today, visiting my grandparents in Cincinnati. While he was there, he visited their old apartment. Only tonight, when he was sitting next to me talking with someone on the telephone, did I hear some good news about genealogical information. Apparently, Grandmother had an old document tracing her family history to sixteenth-century Germany, and only last week was it found. Although Dad didn't see it today, my aunt and uncles discovered it, and we know that it's in the apartment. Since I have been informally designated the family genealogist, I'm sure that this document will soon be coming here.

Today has seen more mowing (big surprise) with more coming; I have two more for tomorrow. Rain is predicted, so I hope to be able to get done. What's worse, our big annual Hocking Hills trip is this weekend, and rain is predicted all day Saturday. In case you wonder: the Hocking Hills are located over an hour south of Columbus, near the edge of the Appalachians. They include some of the most wonderful scenery in all Ohio.

Today is the tenth anniversary of our departure for Ireland. Ten years — wow!
Tonight at the troop meeting, I had Mr. Henline sign my merit badge application for Music badge, and I completed Camping badge. I am now DONE with all my merit badges! What a wonderful feeling this is! What's more, my project is done! All I need to do now is to have everything approved, and I can have my Eagle Board of Review. This may not be too far away — hopefully by the end of June.
Hallelu Yah!

Today has been rather unproductive, since I've been rather tired much of the day. Dad has been busy with matters ranging from my grandparents to Synod's Graduate Study Committee, of which he is the chairman. As a result, I've been unable to do much work on the computer.
An older man at the far end of the street wanted us to mow his lawn today, since his riding mower won't start. As a result, much of my afternoon was occupied by mowing. It would have been quite easier except for one factor — he normally sets his mower rather higher than we do ours, so the grass was abnormally tall.
Last Saturday, Dad brought back lots and lots of Grandmother's genealogy work. I've looked through some of it this afternoon, and some looks really interesting. I hope to have time actually to work through it, but we'll see. My summer looks to be busy, and I will leave for Geneva in less than 3½ months.
ECHO I leaves in 3 weeks!

Dad preached today from chapter 15 of I Samuel, in which chapter Saul attacks the Amalekites and is rejected by God. I would pose one question to you, bearing in mind that God rejected Saul: was it wrong for David to enter Saul's service?

BLOGS As always, * marks a competitor, and italics mark a 7-day poster.
1. Katie: 11, on 7 days.
2. Rebekah*: 7, on 7 days.
3. Becca: 9, on 6 days.
4. Bekah*: 7, on 5 days.
5. Nathan: 4, on 4 days.
6. Charity: 5, on 4 days.
7. Anna: 5, on 4 days.
8. David: 1, on 1 days.
9. Joseph: 1, on 1 days.
10. Allen: 0, on 0 days. His last post was on 20 April.
11. Abby: 0, on 0 days. Her last post was on 7 April.

Great news! Skyline Chili is coming to Bellefontaine! Arby's is moving, and it's just been annouced that the old Arby's will become a Skyline. One downside: they haven't yet started construction on the new Arby's, and Skyline probably won't be open until after I go to college.
Still, it's great news.

FINALLY! Cincinnati just defeated Los Angeles 11-3, breaking an eight-game losing streak.
Something disconcerting: In just 14 months from today, Isaac will be old enough legally to drive.

So much for "Today, therefore, I can focus on other things". I ended up mowing for 3½ hours! Yesterday, a man asked us to look at doing his lawn — a lawn that hadn't been mown all year. You can imagine how tall it was.

Sorry for the dinky posting yesterday: I was really busy most of the day, mowing two lawns and taking the last six hours of the day, visiting out-of-county.
Thanks to hard work, I completed my usual four-lawn mowing in just two days. Today, therefore, I can focus on other things, such as work on my Eagle project and on my stamps.
Monday was the 14th birthday of Andrew Watson, one of our troop members. Because he and his family wanted to have us come for a late celebration, we went to their house last night, leaving shortly before 6:00 for their house 25 miles south of here. When we left, it was about 10:40 — and I was driving home! Because I felt uncomfortable driving on US 68 (our normal route), I decided to take back roads the whole way, aided only by a map and by the memories of a bicycle ride early last summer.
Despite misgivings, I was able to get us home, and my memory served me well; although at one point I had totally forgotten a dogleg intersection, I would have stayed on the other road and never resumed the one I wanted, had I never cycled that way. And we got home safely!
Last night was the best night I'd had since Sonrise. From about 8:00 to the end of the visit, Mom and Dad and I sat and talked at the table; Andrew's elder sister sat that entire time, his father sat for nearly all that time, and his mother for much of the time. Not since Sonrise had I had a good, long face-to-face conversation. A side benefit to the evening was being able to drive in an area I like very much, the southwest part of the county, where I'd bicycled the one time.

Busy. I'll post tomorrow.

Today saw us mowing six lawns. If we do like this tomorrow, we'll have everything done then!
This afternoon, I got in most of an hour of driving, as Dad and I went to Rushsylvania and Big Springs, here in the county. Tomorrow, I might get more time, as we'll be going south of the county line in the evening.
Good news today: I am just almost done with Eagle! My project is almost totally complete, and my two remaining merit badges are nearly done. Hallelu Yah!

Last night, I watched the Cardinals set a franchise record, as the Reds gave up SEVEN runs in just 1/3 inning. COME ON! How hard can it be, when you're up 9-3, to get two outs without losing the game? How hard can it be for Sean Casey at first base to catch the ball? TWICE he made errors, each of which would have ended the game! And it was the biggest comeback in over 100 years of Cardinals history. Absurd.

Today was not very interesting, as I did rather little: no mowing, no driving, and not much else. Most of my day (other than a bit of talking on AOL IM) was occupied by (1) a trip to Bellefontaine, and (2) work on the Camping merit badge. All I have to do now for Camping is a bit of typing, which shouldn't take long, and some outdoor work that should take under an hour.
Dad went down to Cincinnati today to visit my grandparents and our remaining members in Northern Kentucky; one of these three members is Mr. Dave Pierce, who likely will soon die of a melanoma. However, Dad could see none of the members, due to scheduling conflicts. He plans to return to Cincinnati on Saturday, when he and his three siblings have a family meeting. Please pray for them to have wisdom!

Thanks to Mom for posting for me yesterday!
Dad preached today from chapters 13 and 14 of I Samuel, where Saul takes the offensive against the Philistines. Attendance was somewhat lower today (only 39), as two girls were with other family, and the Morton family have Mr. Morton's grandmother's services tomorrow in Illinois. They worshipped at Elkhart this morning.
A short synopsis of the campout: Leaving about 4:30, we packed up at Rushsylvania and arrived at Buck Creek around 7:00. People trickled in periodically; we ended up having twelve boys in all. The night went quite poorly for me, since my tentmate took wet boots into the tent and soaked my sleeping bag. Yesterday, we competed in several different events along the theme of "Emergency Preparedness." After that, we took an hour for park cleanup, followed by dinner. After dinner came the usual campfire, along with Order of the Arrow callout. I GOT ELECTED! Once that was done, we left for home.
Most events went all right, although two boys caused problems. At one point, we had to carry someone on a stretcher, and these two raised one end so that he fell off, onto the ground; at another, we had to care for a baby doll (representing a live infant) and the boy ignored directions, taking the baby near to simulated danger.

BLOGS
1. Rebekah*: 7 posts, on 7 days.
2. Bekah*: 6 posts, on 6 days.
3. Katie: 6 posts, on 6 days.
4. Anna: 6 posts, on 4 days.
5. David: 6 posts, on 5 days.
6. Nathan: 4 posts, on 4 days.
7. Charity: 2 posts, on 2 days.
8. Becca: 2 posts, on 2 days.
9. Joseph: 1 posts, on 1 days.
10. Allen: 0 posts, on 0 days. Last post 20 April.
11. Abby: 0 posts, on 0 days. Last post 7 April.
Grace will no longer be listed, since she has not posted since March. I'll list her again if/when she resumes blogging.
A word of advice to commentthis.com: Someone needs to get your service running again soon, or even more people will abandon you.