Mín Englisc Blog

Storm is about to hit. Pray for sustained rain!

Today is the first anniversary of Iraqi sovereignty.

Today was very different from previous days. Because the printer has run out of black ink, I can't really print stamp album pages, so I didn't try. Instead, I've been sorting and registering all of the genealogical information composed by my Pockras grandmother. You may think that easy, but it isn't. Consider these problems:
• Grandmother had several stages of each of several projects — Descendants of Avraham Pokrass comes in five different versions!
• Her handwriting varies greatly; sometimes it's beautiful and easy to read, other times it's difficult indeed.
• There are several "to-do" lists, and I have little idea what tasks were completed.
• There are some papers with research on people of whom I've never heard, and to whom Grandmother never traced a connection. Did she establish a connection and fail to write it down, or were these people unrelated? Noöne knows; even if she were to recover completely and permanently from her current condition, she wouldn't remember tiny details from the 1990s. Would you remember a 19th-century date that you discovered seven years ago?

Synod is scheduled to end tomorrow, and Dad says that they're at least on pace, if not doing better than that. Even if they finish early in the afternoon, it will be late evening before he returns — when else will he get a chance to talk to so many of these men?
Please keep praying for rain! Today, we got our first measurable rain since I returned from ECHO. Granted, it was only 1/10 of an inch: far from enough, but every little bit helps. A cold front is expected tomorrow, and with it will come strong storms. Let's hope that we get some of those storms.

Elected moderator of the 174th Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America was the Rev. Dr. Prof. Jonathan M. Watt, B.S., M.Div., M.A., Ph.D.


Do I sound Irish, or what?

Dad left early this morning for Beaver Falls, because Synod begins today at the College. Not only did he have that, but he also had to attend a meeting of the Corporators, also held at Geneva at an earlier time.
Although Dad has been busy today — it's a 4½-hour drive to Beaver Falls — I have done very little again. Mostly, today has amounted to stamps and a comic book. Pray for rain! Other than a few drips, we haven't gotten anything since I returned from ECHO.
I almost forgot to mention the only thing that I did do today: a haircut. Even that was uneventful, as I was home from my 3:00 appointment by 3:30.

Dad preached today from the end of I Samuel, where Saul falls in battle; and from the end of John 4, where Jesus heals a dying boy from a distance. Because this is the last week of the month, we had a lunch with afternoon worship. Because our normal afternoon-service precentor was gone this week, I was allowed to precent during the afternoon service. Although not everything went well (notably Isaac choosing 68E, the one psalm I would not lead at ECHO!), it was mostly good. My first time precenting in a worship service!

BLOGS
1. Ellie: 7 posts, on 6 days.
2. Katie: 9 posts, on 6 days. This includes five audioposts without further caption.
3. Rebekah: 7 posts, on 7 days.
4. Bekah: 13 posts, on 3 days. This includes 12 posts with just a picture and a short caption.
5. David: 4 posts, on 4 days.
6. Becca: 3 posts, on 4 days.
7. Nathan: 2 posts, on 2 days.
8. Charity: 2 posts, on 2 days.
9. Anna: 1 posts, on 1 days.
10. Allen: 0 posts, on 0 days. Last post 19 June.
11. Joseph: 0 posts, on 0 days. Last post 2 June.

Best post: Nathan: Friday

It's been one year since my first ECHO trip arrived in Indianapolis.

Dad and Mom were gone much of today, attending the annual convention of the Christian Home Educators of Ohio (CHEO) in Columbus. Although CHEO didn't start until late morning, they left shortly after 8:00, so as to get great parking spots. Between shopping, studying, talking, and driving, they didn't get home until nearly dinnertime.
Isaac and I, meanwhile, did relatively little today. Isaac had Wes Deardurff from the troop here much of the day, mostly doing little — although they went on a fifteen-mile-long bike ride this afternoon. Most of my day, however, was occupied with work on stamps, as I made and filled eight album pages for four countries.
Please pray for rain! Today I was paid $60 — but $40 of that was for last week's work, and I don't expect to mow either of my remaining lawns this week. Worse, I have no idea whether I'll be mowing anything next week. Yes, this weather is pleasant, but college costs money, and I have no real income besides lawnmowing.

Today has been one of the most unproductive days I've had in quite a while. Although I had a useful trip in the afternoon — Dad and I went to get the Eagle Scout patch for my uniform — that's about all. Most of the rest of the time has been spent on Railroad Tycoon or small stuff for stamps.
Congratulations to the San Antonio Spurs for winning the NBA Championship!

About to go! Thanks for your prayers!

Happy Birthday to Mom!

Isaac is hosting Wes Deardurff, a member of the troop, in a tent on the back porch tonight. I never remember how big that tent is until I see it squeezed into such (relatively) large places!
Tomorrow is Mom's birthday. A pity Dad won't be here for it! He has to leave directly after breakfast, and he won't be home until evening. Meanwhile, Mom has to mow, and she may be helping to work on the roof (I forgot to mention that Paul Soma from church has begun work on the kitchen roof) as well. And she has to take me to the Eagle board! What a birthday.
Please pray for me tomorrow as I meet with the board!

Arrangements have mostly been made for services for Mr. Pierce. Dad will leave early tomorrow to officiate at the funeral, to be held in Northern Kentucky in the early afternoon. He plans to use the extra time before the funeral for visiting my grandparents.
Following Nathan's lead, I hereby link to Micah Humphreys' ECHO pictures site. Enjoy!

Safety post.

Great news: I have an Eagle Scout Board of Review scheduled for 4:45 PM (3:45 for you in Indiana) this next Wednesday afternoon! Pray that I might pass it; if God grant that I pass it, I will be an Eagle immediately upon completing it.
Dad preached today from near the end of I Samuel — David's escapes from Saul — and from most of John 4 — the woman of Sychar. When you think for a while, it's amazing the strength of will that God gave David: twice he could have killed his enemy without any trouble, but refrained because of concern for God's law.
Today, we had all afternoon the Morton family from church, the family who make a three-hour-long round trip to church each week. Most of the afternoon was spent on our newly-redone back porch — although not all the time; they all looked at my ECHO pictures — discussing everything from law to worship to my new chaya plant. It's really nice to have had them here for evening worship, since they can't make it unless they stay for the entire afternoon.

Dad received a phone call this morning. Mr. David Pierce, for whom we had been praying so much, has passed away. Thankfully, Mr. Pierce suffered almost no pain, and he died confident in Christ's salvation. May God grant all of us a peaceful passing when our times come!
Today is the first time I've been home for church in three weeks. Expect another update later.


BLOGS Thanks to ECHO, absolutely noöne posted every day this week. As well, today I add a new feature: best post of the week.

1. Becca: 8 posts, on 6 days.
2. Katie: 5 posts, on 5 days.
3. David: 5 posts, on 5 days.
4. Rebekah*: 4 posts, on 4 days.
5. Nathan: 2 posts, on 2 days.
6. Ellie: 2 posts, on 2 days. This is the first time that I have ranked her site.
7. Charity: 2 posts, on 2 days.
8. Allen: 1 posts, on 1 days.
9. Bekah: 1 posts, on 1 days. She has dropped out of the contest.
10. Anna: 1 posts, on 1 days.
11. Joseph: 0 posts, on 0 days. Last post 2 June.

Best Post: Nathan: Thursday

Last night, a youth group of Michigan Orthodox Presbyterians stayed at our church on their way to a mission trip in Kentucky. After an early awakening, we all walked over to church to see them before they left — but we were late; they had already left — and then walked over to the village restaurant for a rare restaurant breakfast. The rest of the day, so far, has mostly been a day of computer and newspapers. I occupied much of the morning playing Railroad Tycoon; although I spent the first part of the time building a good, strong road, I soon became bored and began to crash trains for fun :-) Since lunch, most of the time has been occupied by newspaper reading. At my request, Mom and Dad saved all the newspapers from while I was gone. So far, starting with the oldest papers, I've finished the one from the 9th — barely a week to go!

Bekah has decided, voluntarily, to drop out of the blog contest. This means that only Rebekah and I are left. Who will win? By the way, in case anyone was curious: the last time someone dropped out was 10 March, when Nathan and Anna dropped out. That was 99 days ago. Two-thirds of the time of this contest has been between just Bekah and Rebekah and me!
Pray for ECHO II; they leave early tomorrow. If it had been up to me, I would be staying in Indianapolis tonight, ready to leave; however, my schedule prohibited trip II — thus my sitting at home right now :-)

Please read Nathan Hart's excellent ECHO post.
In short: Dad arrived at Harts' at about 10:30 this morning. We made it home at 5:10; accounting for the time difference, that's five hours and forty minutes later. Soon after we arrived, we went to Bellefontaine for the evening: a good, but rather tiring night.
Big news: they've started construction on the new Arby's, and there's a sign for hiring for Skyline!

Well, my ECHO trip is about to be over totally. Dad is already in Indiana, coming to pick me up, so I'm sitting here waiting. He called a little while ago to warn of drastic computer problems with our main computer — I hope I don't need to drop out of the contest!

Well, my ECHO trip is over. Tonight (not "this morning", it's only 11:00 here in Indiana!), I'm staying at the house of Nathan Hart, a team member from Southside. He's tired, so it's off to bed.
Today, Thursday, marks the resumption of the blog contest under normal rules.

Already it's almost the end of the trip, as today is our final workday.

Thanks to a sinus infection, I have been unable to work this morning. I developed a fever, sore throat, and runny nose last night — after working in the rain all afternoon. This morning, Mr. Blackwood drove me to a doctor in Ft. Myers; the doctor prescribed Zithromax (is that the right spelling?), and I've already taken one of the three doses.

Yesterday afternoon was relatively simple and relatively boring: I worked with Elizabeth Enas, Grace Hanson, Grace Faris, Rebekah Ray, and Beth Long over at the presale area. First, we cleared soil and grass from off the edge of the tarps (tarps are used for flooring for the presale area) and piled it at the edges; after that, we picked up the piles with pitchforks and loaded them onto a golfcart-trailer.
Last night we visited the house of Dr. Grace Ju, the supervisor of the ECHO seed bank. Although some people swam and stayed until 9:00, I didn't and returned to church in another van at about 8:00; I was tired and didn't feel like swimming.
This morning, I worked on the pigeon pea field with Charity Blackwood, Zachary Blackwood, Grace Faris, Grace Hanson, and Mary Ray, weeding these food plants of grass.

Big news today: McKinnon congregation in Australia has made a call upon the Rev. Edwin Blackwood, leader of my ECHO team. Pray for wisdom for him!
Yesterday afternoon, I worked with Luke Long, Haley Fisher, and Heather Moore on laying sod at the new house for the female interns. It went well, although much of the sod was ant-infested, and there was nearly no shade.
Last night we all went to the house of Mr. and Mrs. Hargrave down the road slightly. Both work for ECHO.
This morning I worked with Micah Humphreys and Kaitlyn Marcisz on clearing some of the swamp. ECHO is beginning to develop more land, and we were working on clearing out some tree stumps and accompanying palmetto. Near the end of the job, I discovered a nest of fire ants on my shoes and socks. Hallelu Yah that they bit the socks, leaving me unbitten!

Finally, I'm able to post here. I only have a couple minutes, so here's a quick summary:

Thursday and Friday were just travel: on Thursday we stayed at "Heritage Church", a Reformed Baptist church in southern Atlanta; and starting on Friday, we stayed at Trinity Reformed Church of Cape Coral. We're spending all our nights there.
Saturday was mostly preparation. In the afternoon, we visited a beach near Venice and had a heavy rainstorm.
Mr. Blackwood preached at Trinity in the morning. In the evening, we had preaching from a PCA pastor in Ft. Myers.
Yesterday I worked with Rebekah Ray in the morning, filling in ditches, and worked with Luke Long and Nathan Hart in the afternoon, painting.
This morning I worked with Zachary Blackwood, testing 33 new solar panels that ECHO just bought.

So long, farewell,
Aufviederschein, goodbye...

Time to leave!

Well, it's about 10:00 PM, and I'm here at Blackwoods'. We need to be over at Southside church at about 6:50 AM local time tomorrow, so I need to get to bed. See you at ECHO!

While I'm gone, please read Katie Bussell's site. She plans to keep up the blog ratings while I'm gone.

TODAY I leave for ECHO!

Happy 18th birthday to Lydia.