Jeff in the Olympics, in case you missed me!

Changes are coming! - updated 9:00 PM

WOW, I bet that got your attention!

Nothing big except I have instituted a new rule for bloggers.

To stay active on my blog list you must update at least every other month! Not too much to ask. So sorry Pastor Wally you are out, and Sean is next, it has been 5 weeks and counting.

A teacher friend of mine told me this week, that during the 1st week of school they collect a form from parents listing many thing, but one thing is food allergies.

One parent put: Sloppy Joe's, yes, their child is allergic to sloppy Joe's, not hamburger or tomatoes or even bread, but somehow when you put them all together it creates something that their little child is allergic to.

Another parent told me their 1st grader had to bring a flash drive to class! Whatever happened to a box of tissues and wet wipes? Times sure have changed.

There is hope!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,402483,00.html

Never forget!

Uneventful week, sort of

• The week started off busy, we still had little Jacob until Tuesday. He is such a smart little guy, I know this because when I walk into the room he always reaches out for me! He is destined for great things, since he is such a good judge of character!!!!

• Pray for Amy and Jason (Jacob's parents), when thy were gone they got married. Angela has invited them to church and lunch tomorrow and they promised the would come. We know God is the only answer for them and are trusting that God will work in their lives.

Rest of week was OK, nothing exciting until Thursday. Memi and JR came because this is the annual Lake Erie fishing trip! The Brandon, Corey and my nephew Blake (the campfire chef mentioned earlier) are there right now. They are having great weather, not too much luck fishing, that we have heard of. One exciting thing happened this morning, something about Brandon was swinging a cutting board and it hit JR?? More details to follow. One of the best things to happen afterward is the video they make of all that happened, if possible I will post here to share with all. and of course since we have 4 cars and a larger truck here now, they are coming tomorrow AM to seal the driveway, we have cars at neighbors and my parents house.

Angela and I went to see the Batman movie, "The Dark Knight". We both loved it, I was surprised that my arm candy (Angela) also really enjoyed it, good moral about right and wrong and ethical decisions we are required to make, and how nothing, no situation should make us do something that goes against what we believe, even if it makes an "outcast". Definitely some Christian themes spread throughout, by accident? maybe, maybe not.


Today, mowed the yard for the 1st time in 2 weeks. some parts still pretty brown, but others needed it, I needed the exercise, so I made it all the way through. Took a shower and watched a movie trying to recuperate. Got up to work on my lesson and I was so sore! If I did that every week I would be OK and probably a lot skinnier.


Looks like Tyler and Rachel will have to rent Tyler's old house, unable to sell it right now. But God may work through that because they may get enough rent to help pay the current mortgage as well! Like all newly married couples more money coming into the pot is always a good thing.

Pray for Kenya Team and their families, good reports so far, but Sunday will be a big day for them I am sure, supposed to come home this Wednesday.

Press On!

Is it time?

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/05/12/activists_push_to_repeal_state_income_tax?s_campaign=8315

Is now the time to repeal the state income tax in Ohio? This article describes a similar effort going on in Massachusetts. It would save a typical tax payer over $3,600 per year there. That is $300 per month for my SEC friends. That would buy a lot of $4.00 per gallon gasoline and $4 gallons of milk.

When we moved here from Tennessee we were shocked at how high the taxes are in Ohio. You see Tennessee does not have any state income tax. Their roads are better than ours and the schools are no worse.

I am not sure how this could get started but I would be happy to sign a petition if someone has started this campaign. My guess is most politicians would be against this because they love to spend our money and instead of trying to find ways to save it, they are always wanting more.

Forbes magazine also just listed the top 10 fastest dying cities, and 4 of 10 were in Ohio! Do you think the residents of those towns could use a tax break?

This may be the year in Massachusetts, why not Ohio also?

Weekend update

It seems like I am getting the habit of updating on the weekend, but that works for me. At least I AM updating unlike some unnamed other bloggers.

Wednesday: Kenya Mission Team left today, 7 people from church will be their doing God's work. Pray for them and their families that are here for protection, wisdom, guidance and strength.

Thursday: Little Jacob came to visit while parents are Las Vegas, he is still here and will not go home until Tuesday. Aunt Angie has been a real trouper because I have not been much help due to ...

Friday: Was the 1st Annual Thomas-Salyer boys night out! We camped out over at the farm. Blake cooked a great dinner over the fire topped off with smores and peach pies, boys went fishing, and we spent a lot of time relaxing. Look for more pictures to show up in the family video. Sleeping in a tent, my 1st time on a loooooong time, went well, Brandon snored louder than me! A good time was had by all.

Saturday: Got up at camp, Corey tried to fillet the fish they had caught, no luck. We still had a great breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, and potatoes. Take Blake with you if you go camping, he is a great campfire chef. Saturday afternoon I had to do a project for work. I have mastered the art of removing labels from cans, I worked until 11:30 PM last night. UGH!

Sunday: Good day at church new couple in our class, met 2 more new young couple after Church. Got a call that my shift was cancelled on the removing labels project, so do not have to work tonight! So I took advantage of the time to make my fantasy football keeper league picks for Tyler's league. FOOTBALL STARTS TONIGHT! Yeah! The Hall of Fame game is on, let the season begin.

Read this article in the paper and it about made me sick.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/08/03/baptism.ART_ART_08-03-08_B4_61AU3UV.html?sid=101

God please forgive us! Help us to reach these people, soften their hearts towards you!

All for now, getting ready for church and then football!

REDEMPTION!

What a weekend!

Wow, what a whirlwind weekend.

It started on Friday night, with a trip to Genji's Japanese steakhouse, with Tammy, Gary, the twins, Brooklyn, Corey, Brandon, Angela and Big Daddy (me). There is nothing like the look of a child's eyes in a place like this. We were celebrating the twins birthday and they love this type of restaurant. The boys kept asking "where is the fry guy"? before our cook showed up. It was a great show with flipping shrimp, flaming tower of onion rings, and birthday pineapple "boat". A good time was had by all.

Saturday started out uneventful. Corey played in an alumni soccer game for GCA. We went and saw some old friends, had a good time. The Knox's showed up to scout the GCA soccer team, Mike is the soccer coach at Lakewood. Afterwards, we all went to Whit's for some ice cream to cool down, then headed home.

A couple of hours later things got very bad very quickly.

Corey went to the Knox's house after the ice cream while he was there and Amberly fell off the pool ladder and hit her side on the trampoline. She was having trouble breathing and was turning white, so Mike and Kim rushed her to Children's Hospital.

We got to Children's about 10 PM and Pastor Dear was right behind us and George's and Hall's were right behind him (Sam and Amy also came to LMH during the time we were trying to find them.)

To make a long story short, Amberly spent Saturday night in ICU so they could monitor her vital signs. Luckily things are going well, she is eating and has been moved to a regular room until probably Friday. Then 3 months of limited activity while she recovers.

We didn't home until early Sunday AM, but made it to church. Corey fell asleep during prayer time and dreamed that Gracie, 1 of the Thomas family's 3 dogs, jumped on him and he flinched big time. Audrey was sitting next to Corey and she jumped, I was sitting next to her and I jumped!! Luckily we were in the back row and no one saw us.

Spent Sunday afternoon in the Thomas pool trying to relax and get ready for this week.

Thanks to all who prayed for Amberly!! I know Kim and Mike really appreciate it.

Pray for Kenya Mission Trip, we have a group leaving our church this Wednesday.

That's all for now.

Great article about new church Jeff Moore is starting

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/faith_values/stories/2008/07/25/Niche.ART_ART_07-25-08_B6_FIAQF05.html?sid=101


read last 5 paragraphs

Dog days of summer are here!

WOW! It is hot today, and of course I needed to be outside.


Brandon came home today and played in a softball tournament at Geller Park in Heath. Dad and I went and watched for awhile.


I came home after the 1st game and mowed part of the yard. There was a little breeze, but still hot. I came inside and cooled down a little and went back to the ballpark to watch game #3. Brandon did very well hitting the ball but still cannot run, due to his ankle. They were losing game #3 but I needed to work on my lesson for tomorrow, so I came home. Last thing I saw at the game was Brandon hitting a ball to the fence to clear the bases, maybe they came back. They had 1 more game to play. Softball is definitely a young mans game.


NOTE TO SELF: Ask Pastor Dear if he knew one of the teams in the tournament was Heath 1st Baptist! That's where we go, but I did not recognize anyone on the roster.


Tyler called and said the official wedding pictures are on the web at http://www.zackzoeller.com/ anyone can look at them and order any picture you like. Angela and I would be glad to autograph the pictures of us for a small fee, to offset the costs associated with the trip!!! (just kidding, autographs are always free for our blogger friends).


Tomorrow is the Salyer Reunion and Angela has been cooking all day, it is going to be hot again for it, but it only comes once a year and it will good to see some of my cousins, aunts, and uncles.


Angela watched Jacob the other day, here is one of the pics we took.



Finally, my baby brother started his own blog, make sure you check it out on the blog list at the right, it is titled "the other salyer family".


Did I mention it is HOT today? Go to church tomorrow!

New favorite links

Have you ever noticed the column on the right? It has a lot of interesting information. Underneath the blog list are some of my favorite links to websites I use or would recommend.

I added 2 more over the weekend:
Pew Forum - the location on some interesting information about each of the candidates and their views on issues important to Christians

American Family Association - another website that is one of the leading organizations supporting the Christian worldview.

Please take a minute to check them, and all of the others, out!

California burning!

I made it to Fairfield, CA today. As we were coming in for a landing I could see the mountains on fire out the window! It looked like one side was burning and the other side was black, already burned. Luckily this area is flat, lots of farm land, no fires.

BUT it is 107 right now! Very hot, not a dry heat either.

Got a wonderful blessing with my rental car. I got a 2008 Ford Mustang convertible with 180 miles on it! I couldn't believe it, I double checked the name and it was for me! So I put the top down, the AC on full blast and drove about 2 hours from Sacramento to Fairfield.

Flight down was pretty uneventful sat by an elderly couple, had to help the lady with her seat belt, but otherwise no problems. Meetings at the plant start tomorrow!

Later!

Happy 4th of July!

Well, here it is, a cold & rainy day. We are getting ready to to the Thomas's for a cookout and the annual family fireworks display. This year we have over $1,000 worth of fireworks to set off! It will be bigger and better than ever.


I was reflecting on what we are celebrating today and the price that has to be paid for the freedoms and liberties we take for granted. So thank you troops and military people all over the world, thanks for for defending this great country.


I was also thinking about the word "pledge" as in "Pledge of Allegiance". If we really pledge ourselves to something, doesn't that require us to do whatever it takes to fulfill our commitments to God, family, country, etc. It seems like we want to keep our commitments when it is easy for us, or little personal effort is required. But a pledge involves much more.


I was reading Sports Illustrated and there is an article that contains the "Pledge of Success"


Today is a new day, a new beginning.
It has been given to me as new gift.
I can either use it or throw it away.
What I can do today will affect me tomorrow.
I cannot blame anyone but myself if I do no succeed.
I promise to use this day to the fullest by giving my best, realizing it can never come back again.
This is my life and I choose to make it a success.

I wonder how many lives would be changed today if we all took this pledge and then kept it!

I also wonder if we looked back over our lives and could recall all the times we have pledged to do things for God, but bad choices or poor priorities have kept us from fulfilling our commitments.

Why not recommit yourself to being successful in God's plan for your life, then you will have the ultimate success.

Wedding pictures

salyer - benton band

Wedding Bells are ringing!

The Happy Couple! Tyler and Rachel Salyer!

We had a great time and made it home last night. It was a very eventful trip:

• I got sick for over a day
• Our car had a flat tire with a screw in it which caused a flat tire
• Mom and Dad's car overheated and had to be towed. it took a day for them to get a replacement.
• Brandon did not get a shirt for his tux (it was the wrong size when we picked it up and must have been left it there)
• Angela got her hair done by a an ex-oil change technician because it had a 2 quarts of oil in it. Thanks Kim for the rescue.
• The Wedding cake was delivered to the Chapel instead of the reception hall.
• It was very hot, but no rain!
• Tyler and his brothers and Rachel and her sisters surprised us at the reception with a new band see next posting

Angela and I are so glad to welcome Rachel to our family!

Now, this is someone to vote for!

Things I do not get.

1. I don't get why we are using corn for ethanol and people are starving all over the world.
2. I don't get why we rely on people who could care less about us for oil when we have enough right here if we could only drill for it.
3. I don't get why people value animals over real people.
4. I don't get why people think tax cuts are a bad thing, it's my money to start with.
5. I don't get why people didn't call their dad today on Father's Day, I did and my boys called me.
6. I don't get why people who are trying to adopt a baby can have someone change their mind and destroy dreams of people who will love that baby more than anybody else ever could.
7. I don't get why people believe in global warming, GOD is in control, not us. (the temperatures are going down right now not up, tornadoes are caused by cold fronts not rising temperatures, also follow the money and see how people who are scaring us have set themselves up to benefit financially from it, and some of the most famous people who are trying to scare us are making the problem much more worse than I ever could, with their private jets and huge homes).
8. I don't get why people are to full pride to say they are sorry, go rent the Bucket List today!
9. I don't get why people think they can't make a difference in a situation so they just don't try.
10. I don't get why Jesus Christ died for you and me, but I am glad he did.

What week!

It all started last Sunday with Brandon's graduation from The Ohio State University! We are so proud of him, he has a job already at Nationwide financial services!

We had a party to celebrate and a good time was had by all!

• Monday, I left for Chicago for work and it was so cold! Really it only in the 60s at night 70s in the day, but it seemed worse after leaving the 90s. Brandon also hurt his foot at softball and is on crutches! Angela had to take him for an MRI to make sure nothing was torn.
• Thursday, I came home and Brandon left for a wedding in TN, he flew down and Corey is driving down today, so Angela and I are home alone, at least for a few more days.
• I am working from home today, Angela and Tammy went shopping, Pam called and said that Jordan got a concussion at the party! During the football game, at the party see above, she ran into Jeremiah and he gave her a black eye, well she was not feeling well all week, so the doctor confirmed that it was more than a shiner!
• Tyler and Rachel getting house ready to sell and move after the wedding, so that is the next BIG thing during June, then maybe things will slow down?

Character and Integrity

Boys and their toys

Well it's been a while since I updated the life of my 3 sons, so here is the latest.

• Tyler - got his Master's degree, finished teaching his 2nd year of school, getting married to a great women, Rachel (we gain a new daughter-in-law!) at the end of June, is selling his house and buying a new one. And found time to also buy a new car. He is flying up this weekend for Brandon's graduation.




• Brandon - Went canoeing again last weekend, same results, capsized lost the canoe and the oars, but since it was during the daylight, he made it out alive, but very wet. He graduates from OSU this weekend, working for Nationwide Financial, and he bought a motorcycle for the gas mileage.

• Corey - Finished his 3rd year at OSU and is moving back home for the summer, working for Grass Roots landscaping, and he also bought a new to him used car, a Toyota Camry, very nice. Sold the old Jimmy to Jim, sad to see it go, but it was time.

Lord, forgive me if I ever complain again!

Quality conversations

I was reading the blog of Dr. Albert Mohler today and wanted to share the last 2 paragraphs:

..."Join the revolution and refuse the seductions of the mind-numbing allure of all things digital -- at least long enough to think a great thought, hear a great lecture, enjoy a quality conversation (with a real, live face-to-face human being), listen to a great sermon, visit a museum, read a good book, or take in a beautiful sunset.


People who cannot maintain mental attention cannot know the intimacy of prayer, and God does not maintain a Facebook page. Our ability to focus attention is not just about the mind, for it is also a reflection of the soul. Our Christian discipleship demands that we give attention to our attention."

(you can read the whole posting by clicking on his name in the right hand column)

As I read this, the line in BOLD letters (emphasis mine) really jumped out at me. Because I think that is a secret to success in any relationship, being able to have a quality conversation.

No screaming, no yelling, no hidden agendas or finding fault all the time, not acting mad when someone says something (who are you really mad at by the way? But that will be another time.)

Just an honest, non-emotional, high caring, high quality conversation! As I look around me personally and professionally, people who know how to do this have a pretty good life. They seem to ride the storms out much better than those who do not know how to talk to someone important in their life.

I reflect back last week when I went and saw Sam in the hospital, no agenda when I showed up, just wanted to be there for him and encourage him. We had some really good conversations about jobs, education and things that we would have not taken the time to discuss if he had not lying in bed.

Having a quality conversation requires a couple of things:

• It requires that I put my self interest aside
• It requires that I genuinely care about the other person
• It requires that I look for a solution not that I am right or I win you lose
• It requires that I hold my emotions in check
• It requires that I assume the other person has good intentions until proven wrong
• It requires that I apologize when needed, sometimes I am the problem
• It requires that I forgive when ask, and not hold grudges

Because as Dr. Mohler says above, (Salyer paraphrase) if we cannot focus on each other and pay attention to the relationships we have with the people in our lives, it has to be hard to turn the "attention" switch on and pay attention to God when he is trying to speak to us.

Angela and I have really improved on this since we got married (27+ wonderful years), but I guess that is one of the things that makes our marriage great, the ability to talk and listen to each other.

Sure we still disagree and make mistakes (mostly on my end), she knows I love her and I know she loves me and that is the result of the best conversation of all. The conversation we have with God about each other, our boys, family members, church members, and friends.

Those conversations are called prayers and they are the best of conversations of all.

Busy Day on Saturday

This is how may day started with Angela and the kids making breakfast

Then we went to their ballgames

Where Angela also got to see little Jacob!

Next we got to see Brandon's latest purchase

Finally we took pictures of Corey and Audrey on their way to the Prom

A great day!

Do not sell your soul on eBay

Tyler sent me a book to read, "I sold my soul on eBay". It is written by an atheist of all things who thought he would prove some kind of point by attending church(s) designated by the person who won an eBay auction for his soul.

So I took Pastor Noel's advice and have actually been turning the TV off (at least turning the sound off if the Indians are playing) and reading.

The book ended up being a review of several church services and how they could be changed to attract people like him. As I read the book, it became clear quickly that this guy was never going to find what he was looking for, proof that God exists. He was looking for the wrong thing! When people come to Christ it is because they are looking to develop a personal relationship with Him through faith, not worldly proof.

Tyler and I agreed this is typical today of too many people who attend church for the wrong reasons. They want to know about God, instead of really knowing Him on a personal level and having faith that He knows how to run your life better than you do.

I continue to be amazed at people who view themselves compared to others instead of against what is right and wrong. They think "well I am better than this person because they did this", or they ask "why are you getting on me about my lifestyle when (insert family member or Church attenders name here) has also done things wrong".

WAKE UP! We are all accountable for what we do. I will have to stand in judgement one day and answer to God about what I did or did not do with my life. Guess what, I cannot use someone elses shortcomings to justify mine. I can only answer for myself and what I have done, not compare myself to others. Our comparision is to Christ and we all come up way short.

Dreary day (revised)

Angela made it to Memphis. She was delayed awhile in Columbus due to the storms between here and Chicago but finally got off the ground around 6:30 PM. Her flight from Chicago to Memphis was right on time. She called about 11:45 PM to let me know she was with Tyler and Tammy. I slept good knowing she was safe.

Headed to Columbus for lunch with Brandon and Corey.

Updated Sunday 5:00 PM

The boys and I ate lunch at On The Border by Easton, food = A+, salsa = C-, Turtle empandas for dessert = A+++++++++++++++

We then went and saw the new movie "Iron Man", very good!!! If you like sci-fi comic book characters made into movies, this was very good. When the movie was over the guy said we should stay and watch the last scene. Apparently, this type of movie has a scene after all of the credits, so of course we stayed. A short scene came on and Nick Fury asked Iron Man to join SHIELD.

Now I like these kind of movies but this guy next to Corey yelled out "YES" and scared me to death. So he was a much bigger nerd than me. Guess I need to add Iron Man comics to my reading list to get caught up on the plot lines.

When I got home I started scanning by parent's old slides into my computer. My mom is on a major house cleaning crusade so I wanted to make a digital copy of the family history so my sons and their kids can get a sense of what the "good old days looked like".

Here is an example: That's me in the yellow shirt several years ago. Mom and Dad and my brother Jim. Do not know what mom ate that made her face look that way!

70+ slides done, 200+ to go.


Finally I added "clustermap" on the right side ------------------->
If you click on it, you can find out where people are located when looking at the blog.
(Click on the map again after the website opens up for more detail.)

It snowed today!

I just wanted a record for my grandchildren (yes, they will read this one day) that on April 22, the year of our Lord 2008 it snowed in Newark, Ohio.

I came down this AM and looked out and could not believe that the ground was covered. Angela said when she came downstairs at 5:30 AM the snow flakes were huge.

The cars had about 0.5" (that's 1/2 inch to my southern friends) of wet heavy snow on them.

Tinker started out, tried to turn around and come back in but I made him go on out. He could not believe it either.

I cannot remember ever having a snow this late before. The temp was around 35 degrees, so I am sure it will not last.

Amazing, where is Spring??????????

Bibles in schools

There is a big problem going on not far from here.

About 30 miles north of Newark there is a town called Mount Vernon. There is a middle school teacher named Freshwater who is in the news for not removing his Bible from his desk after his principal told him to.

This has been going on for about a week and the devil is pulling out all the stops. Since this 1st broke the liberal media in Columbus has said things like (I am paraphrasing):

• He has "branded" kids with a cross on their arms as part of a "healing" service.
• He was really a bad teacher anyway and needed to go
• He is linked with other radical conservatives who pray and protest things that are against the mainstream worldview

While others on christian radio say:

• Freshwater was teacher of the year last year, so how bad could he be?
• He is only being singled out due to his standing up for what is right.
• He has already complied with the schools request to remove scripture verses from his room
• The school board cannot back down due to pressure from outsiders, like the ACLU

What do I think?

I think this is another example of how the devil is using liberal organizations to chip away at the Christian worldview. I don't know all of the details, I am sure there are half truths and exaggerations to make this poor guy look bad. I thank God he is taking a stand for what is right. The news is reporting that several hundred students in that school are bringing their Bibles to school as a show of support. The TV video showed many kids with homemade tee shirts with crosses and slogans of support.

I think we need to pray for strength and support for Freshwater. God knows his heart and his motives. Once again, due to the controversy people have had to take a stand, and it looks like people in small rural town in Ohio have taken a stand for what is right.

We all need to take a stand and pray that God will give us the courage to do what is right if we are ever faced with a situation like this.

1974

I was over at my parents house today, helping them clean out closets and I found my senior year book from 1974 when I graduated from Newark Senior High school (I know I do not look that old).

It must be something I must have bought or got because the book has no pictures of anything from the school, just generic places to record things. Some of the interesting things I wrote down:

• A coke costs $0.20
• A hamburger = $0.28
• Large pizza = $2.90
• movie = $2.25
• Gasoline = $0.45 per gallon!!!!!!!!!!!
• Rock concert = $5
• Record = $4 (who remembers those?)
• Tapes = $5 (Who else remembers these?)
• 4 year goal = have a Bachelor of Science degree = complete, even though it took 5 years
• Long Term goal -= married and get a good job = Success on both counts
• After school hangouts - Gym, Frischs and Lums
• Best half hour program = "Happy Days"
• Best 1 hour program = "Banacek, Kojak, Kung Fu"
• Best new show = "All in the family"
• Best new commentator = Jon Chancellor - NBC news
• Best sports coverage = 1972 Olympics
• Worst commercial= Mrs. Olsen Folgers coffee
• Favorite album = Seals and Crofts - Diamond Girl
• Favorite songs = American band, Diamond Girl, Jesus is just alright with me.
• Pet = Susie, my poodle, who bit Angela the 1st time she came to our house!

Brinner

Angela and I were watching TV last Thursday. The Office was great and we were waiting for ER to come on and didn't want to change the channel. so we started watching the show "Scrubs".

One of the characters used a new word, Brinner, which stands for Breakfast for Dinner. Now most of you may know that word or have already used it, but for me it was new.

Well last night we actually had Brinner and it was great!! Eggs, bacon, biscuits, and Uncle Bob's (Evans) gravy. You cannot go wrong with that.

I have always loved breakfast, Bob Evans is my favorite place to eat out. Since it is not Angela's we don't eat there often, but when we do I love it.

So I was wondering if you have dinner for breakfast would it be - deckfast? dinfast?

We already know what what you call breakfast for lunch - Brunch. Many places have that, especially on Sundays.

What about lunch for dinner, would that be - linner? lunner?

I have waited my whole life for something to make my millions, maybe I should copyright those words and wait for the checks to roll in.

What do you think?

Religion, Culture and Society

It has been an interesting week all around the world.

• People are protesting the Olympic flame in the name of religious persecution
• 400+ children were taken from a compound where they were subjected to multiple marriages and forced sex on young girls in the name of a perverted religion
• The Bible was named the #1 book in the world.
• Non-evangelical seminary's are being forced to close due to financial pressures due to low enrollment. (click on Albert Mohler link on right)

Too many times people continue to look for answers in themselves or find a religion that matches what they believe so they will not have change anything.

I was reading Romans 12 today preparing for the lesson on Sunday and I cannot get past the first 2 verses (The Message translation).

"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.

Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.

Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. "

How many times are we dragged down by our family, friends and co-workers into a culture we want nothing to do with? Way too many, if you ask me. We need to rise above it, with God's help and be the beacon of hope, to those who would drag us down with them. We need to resist things that society says are OK and stand up for what is right. We need to guard our minds and not let things enter that tempt us to do the wrong thing.

Now the hard part, self examination. Some people have a very hard time really looking at themselves in a critical way. They think they are fine and never want to challenge themselves and even consider the possibility that something in their life may NOT be good for them, their spouse or their kids. They are so focused on their own world, even thinking that the whole world revolves around them. An easy test is to think how many time today did you say the word "I" today?

In my job I teach people on how to change the culture in their organizations. Culture is made up of 3 things:

1. Behaviors
2. Beliefs
3. Rules

Take out a piece of paper and draw 2 lines on it to make 3 columns. Label each column with one of the labels above. Start with the "Beliefs" column, write down everything you believe to be true about your Christan walk, next write down all of the "Rules" you believe in things God had convicted you that you should not do, and finally. fill in the "Behaviors" column, what do I do with my free time, watch on TV, spend my money, etc. and then compare it with the other 2 columns. There may be some "Behaviors = things we do" that do match what we "Believe" or "Rules" we want to follow.

Then pick something on your list, pray for wisdom and guidance on how to change yourself to be more pleasing to God. Then we can be "Salt and Light" in the world, that is the culture we all need to help create.

We may never change the whole world, but we can change our corner of it!

Big Day on Friday 4/4!

This Friday 4/4, will be the happiest day of my life. I will be celebrating 27 wonderful years of being married to Angela. Guess what else happened in 1981?

• First flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
• The first year that the word Internet was mentioned and MS-DOS was released by Microsoft along with the first IBM PC.
• Gas costs $1.25 per gallon
• Iran released the 52 American hostages
• Ronald Reagan became the President
• Lady Diana Spencer married Charles, Prince of Wales
• Post-it notes were launched by 3M
• Raiders of the Lost Ark and Nine to Five, movies were released
• Diana Ross and Lionel Richie released "Endless Love"

WOW! A lot has also happened with us since 1981:

• 3 wonderful sons
• Angela's dad, Billy Reid, went home to be with the Lord
• We moved to Tennessee for 10 years
• Moved back to Ohio
• Jeff has worked for 5 different companies
• Angela stayed home and raised the boys, then went back to work
• Tyler graduated college and has been teaching school for 2 years
• Brandon graduates college this year
• Corey was 1 more year of college
• We have had 3 or 4 different dogs
• 20 some cats all at 1 time, and yes I was accidentally responsible for the demise of 1 of them
• Sat through too many soccer, baseball, football, and basketball practices and games to count all over Tennessee and Ohio
• AND ENJOYED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!

People ask, what does it take to stay happily married for such a long time, and all I can say what worked for us.

• Putting God #1, with words and actions
• Unconditional LOVE
• Honest and open communication
• Admitting mistakes
• Having patience
• Learn to say, "yes, Dear, you look great in that dress" helps also.

Thank you, Angela for making the past 27 years wonderful, looking forward to the next 27 and beyond!

Easter photos 2008

Easter Bunny + Brock

Easter cheese ball Angela made.

Easter treats from Angela, Tammy and Pam ->

Getting ready for football season.

Irish Words

In case you are planning a trip to Ireland, here are some common words you should know:

• boot = trunk of the car
• trolley = shopping cart
• lorie = 18 wheel truck
• people mover= van
• skip = ditch by the side of the road
• bank holiday = national holiday
• lift = elevator
• chips = french fries
• mobile = cell phone
• garda = police
• toilet = restroom
• post = mail

Ireland - Friday

Had dinner last night in the hotel again with the HR Manager and Business Excellence Manager. Toonari Chicken, very good, came with a fried banana, both tasted very good.

For lunch today had meatballs with mushy peas, which are what you think they are. My mom would be so proud of me. As a baby I always spit out the peas. but being in a foreign country, I chose to go ahead and eat them, not bad but will not get again.

Just finished last class on Change Management.

Waiting for limo to take me to Dublin to stay tonight. Interesting thing in Ireland, there are weddings scheduled every day of the week, the limo is at a wedding this PM. Apparently there are very few places to have a wedding so they are scheduled almost every day of the week. Ate lunch with a guy today who was married on 9/11/2001! He said his ceremony was happening at the same time the planes were hitting the twin towers in NY. They found out about it on their way to the reception. His wife is an american and as you can imagine a lot american people were very upset at the reception. But not his mother-in-law, when asked why she was not very upset, she explained she got married on the day President Kennedy was shot!! She was just used to a lot of drama on a wedding day.

Goes to show you that things in real life are stranger than things people make up.

Very tired and cannot wait to get home to see my baby doll!

Did get good news today that my trip to Chicago next week was CANCELLED!!! YEAH! No more trips until the last week of April.

Pray for Amy and extended family, next week could be a long week.

Love, Big Daddy!

Ireland _

Ireland - Wed/Thurs

Ate in the hotel again last night, very good food. For starters I had mushrooms cooked in a garlic sauce stuffed into a mini bread bowl, for main course I had a prawn and salmon open face sandwich and of course, it comes with chips (we call them steak fries). And everything comes with lots of bread.

One of the things I love about Ireland is the meals.

1. Regular breakfast is about 7 AM
2. 2nd Breakfast (that's what they call it) is at 11 AM
3. Lunch is 1: 30 PM
4. Dinner is 7:00 PM

The food here is very tasty, but pretty heavy, not sure how people stay thin.

Sorry if spelling is wrong, for some reason the spell check brings up German looking words, so it thinks everything I am typing is wrong.

Today conducted the training class for plant senior leadership team. Went very well, they taking me out to dinner tonight, but unfortunately it is back at the same hotel I am staying. I guess this shows how small the town of Cootehill really is.

Finish up tomorrow afternoon, travel back to Dublin in the limo and stay at the airport hotel on Friday night before leaving at 6:30 AM (2:30 AM Nerk time) Saturday. Get back in Columbus at 7:00 PM Saturday if all goes as planned. Pray for safety and timeliness of flights.

Hello from Ireland - Round 2

Made it on Tuesday, with no delays or problems. Left Chicago on Monday night and arrived London o700 local time, 3:00 AM Newark time. Flew on to Dublin at 9:00 AM, arrived at 10:00 AM, no problems. I call this Round 2 because I was just here a few weeks ago.

London Heathrow airport is a real pain to get around. It is old and hard to navigate. I heard they are opening a big new terminal for international flights soon. That will be nice. Imagine walking through a large corrugated drain tube and that is what it is like. Very small waiting areas, etc.

Made it to the hotel, very small rooms in this hotel, maybe smallest ever. Definitely has the smallest elevator (they call it a lift) I have been in. Think about the size of our 1/2 bathroom downstairs and its about that size. Straight in and out with the luggage.

One thing I forgot to mention last time is they do not use wash rags in Ireland, none in this hotel or the last one I was in. Just hand size towels and regular bath towels. Plenty of soap, so it not a cleanliness issue at all. just a little weird.

Everyone asks me about the food. In Ireland it is not too much different than the USA. Steaks, chicken, fish all cooked the same way we would. They do have something called "brown sauce" in addition to ketchup. Not sure what is made out of, tastes like very weak soy sauce, but much thicker.

I was only able to take about a 1 hour nap before coming to the plant to teach a class. Was very tired, did not sleep much on the plane due to the guy next to me kept his light on all night. Watched a movie I think was called "August Rush", Robin Williams had a small role, pretty good for whole family. I did tear up, because a 10 year boy who was seperated at birth found his real mother and father. Great ending!

On plane watched my podcasts of Robin Meade from CNN. WOW! If are not watching her in the AM you need to start. She is very smart, does a fast paced show,and she is easy on the eyes. Also listened to Dr. Albert Mohler podcast of his radio show and Mike and Mike in the Morning.

If you don't know what a podcast is, ask your kids. Basically it is a downloadable verison of a show that you can watch on an mp3 player or on my Zune.

Nothing else really funny or interesting happening so far. Will update when possible, see y'all soon.

Pray for Amy

4,057 hits

4,057 views on my blog. That number greeted me today as I signed in. It is hard to imagine that I say enough interesting things that people want to read it.

123 posts - That is also hard to believe that this is the 124th time I have found things from my life interesting enough to share with people. That is the easy part, with 3 active sons, a wonderful wife, and the opportunity to travel for my work, I have found that things that really happen in life are much more funny than things anyone can make up.

4,000 deaths - As I am writing this, the news mentioned that over the weekend, the US passed 4,000 brave soldiers had passed away in Iraq. To me, it reminds me that we need to pray and thank God that people are willing to defend the freedoms we have.

A freedom that is often overlooked is the freedom of religion. Yesterday we celebrated Resurrection day all over the country, in many churches, of many different faiths. I even had 2 Mormon's knock on my door on Easter Sunday. The only thing we agreed on is that Jesus is risen, but there they were sharing their faith, misguided as it is, with others.

Some would say the battle we are fighting is not worth it, we should just leave, but I think not. Who knows what the future would have been if our leaders had not decided to pay the price to protect all of the freedoms we have, that some on the other side are dieing trying to take away.

1. Say an extra prayer today for the families of those who have paid the ultimate price.
2. Pray for the ministers and chaplains serving in Iraq that their message of salvation is heard, understood, and accepted by those in the service.
3. Pray for our leaders of our country for wisdom and discernment on what to do next.
4. During the family gathering over the weekend, Pam mentioned she had talked to someone currently in the Army, and asked her what the soldiers actually thought about the war, and whether we should leave or not. The answer was very telling, the soldier told Pam that there are very few Democrats in the Army! She explained that almost all of the soldiers she is around support the war effort and want to finish the job.
5. Thank God for all of the freedoms we have have here that we take for granted.

Easter Sunday 2008

He is Risen! He has Risen indeed!

Today is the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ! It is the most important day of our lives. You see we can accept Jesus or reject him. Both choices have powerful consequences. I hope you choose Jesus and Life!

Other thoughts to catch up:

• Tyler was here for the weekend, great to see him, flying back to Memphis as I write this.
• Corey at the Knox's' celebrating Easter
• Brandon out cleaning his truck and working on his deer stand for hunting season already. He is going back to school and Morgan tonight.
• I leave for Ireland on Monday for work. Be back this week in time for our church musical.
• Church musical this year is pretty cool, it is about the time after Jesus arose and peoples reaction to him. It only makes sense that we are doing it next Sunday after Easter.
• We had the whole family here for the annual Easter get together. The Easter Bunny showed up and had presents for all the kids. Memi and JR were in Florida and not in attendance. Sandy had her new friend with her, Bill, we all liked him. Plenty of food, fellowship and fun, a good time was had by all.
• Polly and Carl even made an appearance, she is on the road to recovery, thanks for the prayers.
• Sillin's 3 boys today all had suits on, it was very cute and reminded me when our 3 boys were younger.
• Martin and Linda's oldest daughter had their new baby at church today. They were all smiling broadly form the front row.
• CONNECT group was full today, good time of sharing about how we are not alone in our christian walk. We need to rely on each other and never think we face this world alone, we always have the Holy Spirit and each other.
• Look for updates from Ireland next week!

cute girls

Finally home!

(This is the train station)


Made it home last night after a Loooooong day of traveling.

Flight to Washington took 10 hours due to head winds, then we finally get close to Washington and they are having a thunderstorm (at was 50 degrees there) so we had to circle around for the last hour. The co-pilot came on and said we have about 20 min of reserve fuel left, so after 30 min she come back on and says we have cleared to land and we will land in 20 more min? 30+20 = 50 min, wonder what reserve tank they were using but thank God we landed.

Watched 4 movies;
Elizabeth = B+
Alvin & Chipmunks = A for Alvin!
Lions for Lambs = D When Tom Cruise a conservative Senator, you know what to expect, nothing good for conservatives.
No country for old men = D for Dumb
Also watched parts of some Tyler Perry movie that looked like Desperate Housewives for blacks

Well Dulles Airport was a mess, flights canceled all over, I was supposed to be on the 5:05 PM , but it was cancelled, got on the next flight at 7:25 PM but luggage did not make it, so I had pretty bad night due to my sleep apnea. But it is worth being home with the love of my life.

Leave today for Chicago at 5:00 PM for 2 days, home for 2 weeks and then back to Ireland. No church today but no sleeping in due to jet lag. My body is 6 hours ahead of the clock.

Don't forget to turn clocks ahead.

Later, Big Daddy.

Starting home!

Last night's dinner was very good, but a man can only eat so many 5 course meals, so tonight I continued my tradition of when I am out of the country eating a meal before heading home at .......

Burger King

That's right I ate tonight at the BK in the airport in Amsterdam. I am staying at the Sheraton at the airport. It's connected to the terminal, so I walked over, did a little shopping and had dinner.

Last night we walked around downtown Zwolle, Netherlands with 2 guys from the Abbott plant there, got to see some of the sights, but got dark quickly. They explained the the old city was surrounded by a canal and had a fort built around it. Of course most of it was gone, but there were still parts of it to see.

Part of the problem eating a 3, 4, or 5 course meal in the Netherlands, is they do not get in a hurry!! It took 2.5 hours for dinner and the place was not even crowded. Food portions over here are very small for each course but very tasty. Cannot wait to taste the cooking of my queen (Angela)

Today I taught for 4 hours and Zwolle people taught the other 4 hours, took the train to Amsterdamm about an 1.5 hour ride. This time it was sunny enough to see the countryside. Nothing spectacular, but many small villages with high pitched roofs.

Plane leaves 12:20 PM tomorrow local time 6:20 AM Ohio time so pray for safe travels and no delays. Angelica (AKA baby doll) told me about the big storm, since I have to fly to Chicago on Sunday, I sure want to get home for a little while anyway.

Nothing else much going on, watching the Cleveland Indians playing spring training baseball game, it is good to watch ESPN again!

Continue praying for all those suffering right now, those kinds of wounds do not heal quickly. Pray for protection of all class members and their families. Continue to pray for my mom.

God Bless the USA!

More interesting Food.

Last night I ate in the hotel because I was exhausted from all the training and traveling I have been doing. Last night dinner was very good, had a steak with potatoes and asparagus, for starters I had quail eggs and salmon. The eggs were cooked what we would call sunny side up, but were the size of a quarter. Kind of odd but they tasted OK. The salmon was good, which I expected since we are so close to the coast. Today for lunch we had sandwiches, again. It is odd here that one of the most popular types of sandwich is called a "fillet to Americana" something like that and is raw beef, not rare but raw. I told them most Americans like their meat cooked a little and got many strange looks back. They also serve nothing else with it, no chips, no cookies, no salad, nothing. Maybe that's why people here are so skinny. I also had apple strawberry milk today, very good.

One thing I heard is very true, almost everyone in the country is over 6' tall, what is not true is the women are beautiful. The only beautiful woman I know of lives on Park Trails Drive in Newark, Ohio!

Chinese Chips?

On Monday night I went out to dinner with several people from the training session I conducted. It was quite the UN of Abbott. There was someone from:

1. US


2. China


3. Italy


4. Spain


5. England


6. Ireland

We went to an Irish place to eat but it was closed on Mondays. Ended up at a Chinese place in downtown Cootehill, Cavan county, Ireland. The owner was from China so the Chinese guy in our group was able to speak Mandarin to each other and found out they were from neighboring provinces, which are like states to us. Small world. We ordered dinner and with dinner you get rice or chips. For appetizers we had prawn chips, very good, very light, so I thought that was the option, but the Chinese guy ordered chips and it ended up being french fries! In Ireland, chips = fries, but I never thought you could get them in that kind of place. It was odd to see him eating them with chopsticks, but it worked for him.

I taught 1/2 day Tuesday and then started the long trip to Zwolle. 2 hour car ride to Dublin, plane delayed an hour due to snow and high winds in Amsterdam, got on wrong train, found right train quickly, ended up at hotel about 11:00 PM local time, 5:00 PM your time, drank a diet coke and went to bed.

Very nice room, brand new 5 star hotel, slept pretty good. Breakfast was OK, eggs and some type of sausage, but the bread was GREAT! Very fresh, there was 4 different loaves sitting out that you cut a piece off of, I put butter and jam on mine, do not know if that was right or not, but it tasted good.

Went out to meet my cab and became quickly amazed at the number of people riding bicycles, not exaggerating, but number was in the 100's. Pretty amazing, but oddly many people were smoking while they were riding. Had a cheese sandwich for lunch, was told "this is dairy country we like our cheese" by someone who lives here. Nothing to drink at lunch but milk, some had flavors in it. I had orange milk, tasted OK.

Class today went fine, but feet are sore. Writing this while giving them a break, going for walk later before dinner. By myself tonight, tomorrow group taking me on a tour and to dinner.

Caught on on Angela's emails and I think Satan is attacking our church, need to redouble our prayers, specifically to pray for protection for all members. God is powerful and on our side.

Finished the book, really good, not sure if that is what heaven is like, but I really enjoyed reading it. Cannot what to pass on to Angela to read.

Baked Beans for Breakfast?

Well I made to Ireland OK. Long trip = Newark - Columbus - Washington - London - Dublin and then a 90 minute ride to Cavan, Ireland.

The driver said he knew a short cut to avoid all the Church traffic, so I saw parts of Ireland most people would not get a chance to see. Did not look much different than last time (I was in Sligo which is about 2 hours the other way last year). Narrow roads, villages with narrow sidewalks, narrow cars, Narrow bath tubs in my room to take a shower. Is everything getting narrower or is it me? Nay, things are just getting smaller.

Nothing exciting happened during the trip. The dumbest thing was right in Columbus, going through security and I got behind a guy who had never flown before, took forever (worse than
Angela on the cruise). He was nervous like he was taking something bad on the plane (again like Angela on the cruise). He took 3 bins for all of his stuff, when he really needed 1. He was so nervous that when he finally made it through he left his laptop at security! I had to tell him it was back there.

On the flight from London to Dublin we got an official Irish breakfast: scrambled eggs, banger sausage, rasher bacon, 5 little potatoes, and baked beans, YUCK! I do not mind baked beans at all but for BREAKFAST, NO WAY! Couldn't believe I ate them anyway, too hungry.

A few details, it is 5 hours ahead over here, so Shawn is probably leading the singing at church. Flight from Washington to London took 6 hours. We were delayed an hour at Washington due to the strong tail wind across the Atlantic. London has a law that planes cannot land before 6:00 AM local time. The wind was so strong we made up the hour and more, had to circle a little so we could land on time.

That's about all for now, keep Andrews family in your prayers this week, Angela said Rochelle's mom passed away, they were on the road last night, going to be a long week for them and then Billy starts his new job next Monday.

I'll update as I get a chance and if anything interesting happens. Promise it will be more than the Kenya Team! Just kidding. By the way Pastor Dear gave me the best book to read, called Safely Home (I forget the author cause I have to sit in the lobby to get an Internet connection) about the persecution of Christians in China. WOW! It is a real page turner I read about 50% of it already. Ask him for a copy. he had a bunch in Carla's office.

Well I miss my baby doll already, boys take care of your mother, TTYL.

Big Daddy

Finally some good news!

Angela and I took my mom to the doctor today and we got some good news. We met with the nurse practitioner, who was wonderful, she answered all of our questions and really showed some compassion for mom. It made us feel very good.

The good news was:

• The biopsy came back negative for cancer
• Mom is feeling better already since she finished her 2 antibiotics Monday.
• She can get back on a regular diet.
• She only has to take 1 pill a day for her acid reflux, and 1 for regularity
• We ate at the Nutcracker in Pataskala for dinner and she ate very good. (By the way, the food there was very good, it is decorated like a 50's diner, very cool)
• Lower the bed back down to level (see below why this is a good thing)

She asked me to thank everyone who had been praying for her, she feel like she has turned the corner.

Tuesday she has an appointment with an orthopedic doctor to look at her shoulder. We are taking her to the same doctor who treated my ankle and Brandon's shoulder.

Going through this reminds me of the whole parent child relationship. When kids are little the parents take care of them, help them understand things and make sure things work out. As you get older, the roles reverse. I can see that through this time. It makes my glad we moved back from TN for things like this.

There were a couple of funny moments in this whole ordeal. The Doctor told my parents to raise the head of mom's bed by 6 inches to help with the acid reflux. Well the first night she slept in the raised bed, she slid off the foot of the bed!! Too high, so they lowered it a little.

Other funny thing was that when she would take a shower, my dad had to sit on the toilet with 3 towels for her. She has lost a lot of weight and wanted the towels right away because she was so cold!!

Union University Video

We used to live about a mile from here. God was with them all that night!

Valentines Day

Well today is the Great Day! My mom calls it Valentimes Day, but it is a day where we show our love for our spouses.

Angela got me a card that says,

"When you've been married as long as we have, you learn to accept the other person's faults."

Open it up and you see, "You'll understand this if I develop some." Ha! Ha!

I also got my favorite candy from the Goumas family candy store, Rocky Road! It is 3 large marshmellows, placed next to each other, round part facing up, with pecans on top, covered with chocolate! That is 1 piece of candy, so I got 4 of those! And she even had to wait outside in line to get in!

I am very "Lucky" and blessed to married to this wonderful woman.

Which is a running joke between us. Several years ago, someone in the choir told me I had a new nickname which was "Lucky", because I was "Lucky" to be married to the piano player, Angela.

So, I found the perfect card for Angela. She loves the late great Barry White, so I found a card that when you open it, it has recording of Barry singing, "I Can't get enough of your love baby!"

BIG HIT, went over very well, I was the hero.

We are celebrating tonight with a pizza from Bruno's where we ate on our wedding night! It was one of our favorite places when we were dating.

But I am very lucky to have a wife that loves me, is a great mother to her sons, a great aunt to her nieces and nephews, and a great person.

Her love for her family amazes me, she is always willing to watch this one or feed that one, and misses them when they are not around. So on this special day I just wanted to give this special person a special message:

I LOVE YOU!

crazy weather

In case you have been under a rock the weather outside of Ohio has been really crazy the last 2 days.

It started with tornadoes in Memphis, TN where Tyler lives. He is fine but there is much damage to parts of Memphis we used to visit when we lived in TN.

When the boys were smaller, we used to visit the Hickory Ridge Mall. It had a large carousel in the middle that they liked to ride. It was damaged severly by a tornado, with lots of damage in the area around it. Tyler is Ok and his school actually was in session today.

Just east of there is Jackson, TN where we lived for 10 years. Our house was very close to Union University where a tornado hit and damaged the dorms. They said about 1,800 students were homeless as a result, but the local churches were stepping in with food and shelter. Union is a SBC College and Southern Baptists take care of their own.

Also talked to some freinds who live in Jackson and they have been without power since the storm hit, with no idea when it will be restored. I called Tennalum where I used to work, and they had no damage, but a few of the peope I used to work with had minor injuries. They were coming out of a resturant next to Union right when the storm hit. Their cars had major damage but they had minor injuries.

As I write this, I am in Chicago and they have had over a foot of snow today and it is still snowing. Expected to get up to 6 more inches tonight. I made it back to the hotel, but it took about 2 hours to go 10 miles. Not sure if the meetings tomorrow will happen because others were flying in from Columbus and Canada, so it will be interesting to see if they make it to Chicago. Angela said it still warm and rainy in Newark.

So, please PRAY for all those affected by the tornadoes, some lost their lives, others were injuried, so pray that God will comfort the families of those suffering.

PRAY for safety for those trying to get home tonight in Chicago.

PRAY for the Kenya team if they left today, sounds like things are not getting better in Kenya, but God will protect His Children!!!

PRAY for my mom, she continues to get weaker and has lost 30 pounds in about a month, still waiting for test results.

Saying goodbye to those old, worn out words!

http://web.mac.com/southwindes/Salyer_LA/Funeral.html

Our son Tyler came up with a creative way to get the kids in his class to stop using certain words.

(Pause the music player)

Where have all the bloggers gone?

When I 1st started "blogging" there were 5 or 6 regular people who updated there blogs at least once per week. As of today most have not update since December of 2007 or later (Pastor Wally is the worse at 11/7/07). Is blogging just a fad, something like mood rings, bell bottom pants, and power ties? Or is it a real way to let the world know what is going on in our everyday lives? I say no! It is not a fad it is the communication vehicle of today. It is like publishing your own personal newspaper about things that are important to you.

I really enjoy letting people know what is going on in our family, because in most cases it proves something I have learned over the years, that things that happen in real life are much funnier than anything some comedian makes up!!

so here is the family update for the Salyer's:

Angela - Caught my cold, sore throat, and cough. Course I was done with it, so she can have it.

Tyler & Rachel - Scored the highest score possible on their pre-marriage class test they took at their church. Wedding plans are picking up speed, we cannot wait for Rachel to take full ownership of Tyler!

Tyler had a bad week last week, someone in front of him had a terrible car crash, and he held the drivers hand waiting for the EMT's arrive. Unfortunately it was too late.

Brandon - Started his 1st real job. He graduates from OSU in June and he is already working for Nationwide. He celebrated by buying an iPhone, pretty cool looking, but complicated, to me, to operate.

Corey - We went to See Audrey perform at a dinner theater for her school last Saturday night with her family. She was the best, most talented person on the stage. Afterwards his S-10 Jimmy started smoking so it is in the shop with blown radiator, $400 to fix, he played indoor soccer last night with Knox's and his team got killed, 6 - 2.

Miscellaneous
* Hosted 4 people from Watoto Ugandan children's choir at our host on Wednesday night, they loved Angela's apple pie. Very sweet people
* No trips planned until February, then to Chicago for the week.
* Church yesterday was good, but it is very cold coming and going. glad we do not have little kids to bundle up

Oh Canada! Eh?

Just got back from Brockville, Ontario, Canada population 30,000. I went there Sunday for work, Abbott has a manufacturing plant located there. Spent all day Monday teaching a class on how to manage changes in an organization and why it is bad to just let change happen. The bad part was I lost my voice! (No solos this Sunday Pastor Shawn, in case you were going to ask). My throat does not hurt, just not much comes out. I think Angela is happy about this, but not sure. So I will do more listening then speaking for a few days at home, Church and work.

I heard Angela made a slight mistake on the whiteboard this Sunday. We are having a BYOP (Bring your own pizza) party for the class on 2/15. She wrote BYOB, which of course stands for Bring Your Own Bible. Thanks Baby! More people probably looked at it becuse of the mistake than would have normally.

Brockville got about 4" of snow, but did not cause a problem. On Monday the training room was at the Country club and I was facing a wall of windows, trying to teach while watching the beautiful snow falling over the golf course.

On Monday night I went to dinner with some people from the plant and had POUTINE. The locals raved about this French dish, so I thought I would try it. All it was a was steak fries, with grated cheddar cheese on them smothered in gravy! It was OK, only had a few, but the gravy was from a jar, left a lot to be desired. Felt my arteries hardening while I was eating it.

I finally got around to reading the book FREAKONOMICS, it is a secular book written by a couple of economists. It was very interesting and quick read, I started the book on the plane Sunday and finished on the plane coming home yesterday. Lots of interesting views of society and how many of the beliefs we have about society are not really based in fact at all, but based on what someone wants us to buy. I would recommend it to anyone who likes to think about why things are in society today.

Finally, last Friday before I left I helped out at Upwards. I announced all of the players and the cheerleaders, not much but the kids really enjoyed it. The 2nd set of games were for the "Special Team". There kids are special needs children, but I think they had a better time than the other kids.

I think this is me, do you?

What Jeff Means

You are fair, honest, and logical. You are a natural leader, and people respect you. You never give up, and you will succeed... even if it takes you a hundred tries. You are rational enough to see every part of a problem. You are great at giving other people advice. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are loving, compassionate, and ruled by your feelings. You are able to be a foundation for other people... but you still know how to have fun. Sometimes your emotions weigh you down, but you generally feel free from them.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

What a day!

It was a long day today, Angela and I put away all the Christmas decorations and cleaned the house from top to bottom. Sitting here unwinding watching the Steelers get beat before going to bed.

Since the cruise we had a GREAT Christmas. Tyler came up before Christmas and then our future daughter-in-law, Rachel came up after Christmas. They stayed until 1/2/08 and then headed back to Memphis. It was great to see them both. Rachel is a great girl, just what Tyler needs. So the next big thing will be their wedding in June.

Christmas day was lots of fun. Got together with both sides of the family. I found the best gift for the "passing party". I found an illuminated motion penguin that you sit in your yard! It was something a few people actually swapped for, but Corey ended up with it.

The cruise was the big gift, so I just got an OSU shirt from Corey, a bluetooth cordless earpiece for my cell phone from Brandon, and a chronological Bible for Tyler.

Travel for work starts up again next week, got to go to Brockville, Ottawa, Canada. Brrr! I know ot will be very cold. I always seem to go to Canada in January and Arizona in July! Not fair! Oh well, it could be worse.

That's all for now, going to bed, been a long day. Got to rest up for the BIG GAME on Monday. Unlike all of our friends whose team are done playing for the year, OSU has one more game, where they will win the National Championship!

Cruise - Final

We finally made it back! Arrived home at 3:00 AM Thursday AM. Flight was delayed an hour. Of course Angela had to get stopped by security again in Ft. Lauderdale!

She tried to carry-on some seasonings she bought. 3 bottles each about the size of a hot pepper sauce size bottle. She forgot she had them. I had to take it back to the Skybus counter and put it my carry-on bag, pay another $5 and check my bag to Columbus. Angela was so shook up she forgot to take off her jewelry and got stopped at the metal detector. Finally made it.

The last day on ship was total wash out, rained almost all day. So overall the trip was just good, not great. Due to the weather we ended up taking a 5 day boat ride with only 5 hours off the boat in Jamaica. It was good to get away from cell phones and driving and cooking and cleaning, very relaxing.

Also, I can to appreciate 1 thing much more. My wife is a great cook! The desserts on the ship do not hold a candle to anything Angela makes. The ship may have food 24/7 (which is a good thing also!), but I will take Angela's key lime cheese cake over anything I had on the boat.

Already decided we will not take another cruise till more family or friends can go. That would make it more fun. Overall, if you have never taken a cruise, it is a good thing, maybe not in December.

cruise update #1

we have been sailing since Saturday, supposed to get off today at Grand Caymans but water was too rough, sailing on to Jamaica right now.

weather has been windy and overcast most of trip, but warm and no snow! Food is very good and the shows are great, but ready to get off boat tomorrow for the day.

met a whole host of characters, ask us about "grandma", "NY Couple" , some of the singers when we get back. Things going well, be back Thursday night to chilly OHIO.

only problem, to many Florida Gator fans!! stinking up the boat with the gator chomp, ugh!

that's all for now! gott a go put on some 50 spf sunscreen!!

Pre-Cruise Update

We had to stay up late last night to see our nephew Blake on 10TV news. He was interviewed as a high school athlete reacting to the baseball steroids report. So we went to bed about 11:30PM

Up at 4:00 AM to head to the airport in Brandon's truck. Checked 6 bags of luggage, guess who had 3 of the bags? Got to the airport fine, went over the security procedures with the family, Angela reminded the boys about not putting liquids in their carry on bags, and guess who got stopped at security for having 2 BIG bottles of sun screen? That's right, Angela. When stopped laughing, we went to Starbucks for coffee and a scone.

The plane ride was uneventful where Angela and I were, but ask Brandon & Corey about the guys in front of them. I kept falling asleep while reading my magazine, but otherwise no problem.

Landed, rented a car for the day, and went to the hotel. Got checked in early, it helps when you are a Marriott Silver Elite traveler because I travel so much, the room was even free. There was a huge Bass Pro Shop next door, so we walked over, ate lunch at a nearby seafood place, Corey did not get chicken tenders!.

It was time for a nap, so I went to room to lay down, while the rest of the family went to the pool, after awhile we drove down to the ocean. I am writing this at a computer in the lobby while everyone else is getting their shower.

It will an early night tonight, with the shuttle taking us to the ship at 11:00 AM in the morning. Not sure if I will get a chance to update while we are gone, but expect a full report when we return. I am off the rest of the year from work!!!

Most Wonderful Time of the Year?

When I talked to Angela yesterday during the day, I sensed in her voice things were not going well.

She had been doing lots of work around the house for the Christmas season, wrapping presents, decorating, etc. As a result, she overdid it and her back had been bothering her a lot. So much that I had to stop on my way home and buy her some medicine, because I am the best husband around. So as I was getting out of my car, standing in a snow covered parking lot, in the freezing cold, my cell phone rings, and she said, "never mind I found something in the medicine chest." UGH, I wen in anyway and bought myself a "Chunky" brand candy bar for my wasted effort.

Then I got home and Angela mentioned that there was water running down into the basement from under the sink area again, see previous posts for details. Went down in the basement and only saw water when dishwasher was on. So we called "Todd", yes that Todd, the fix it guy she goes bonkers over because he is sooooooooooo handy fixing things, makes me sick the way she talks about him. Todd and Corey pulled it out today and it sounds like the whole bottom fell out, so now we need a new dishwasher, UGH #2

While Todd was there he also looked at the toilets and they all need new "innards". He will have to come back later and fix that problem. UGH 3#, I am wondering if Angela is feeding him, he seems to take a longer than normal time to fix stuff when food is around.

Finally, my sweet baby doll mentioned that the "service engine soon" was on in her car. So we got in both cars, I drove hers, and that warning light and every other warning light came on, so I knew it would be $$$$$. Well Deke has not found the problem, which means it is more $$$$ UGH #4.

Now they are calling for 1" to 3" more snow tonight, all this week I have been getting up early for work, why do these classes happen on the coldest, snowiest days of the year, UGH #5.