Basic Instinct

Forty blocks,

Five wheelbarrows of black dirt,

Two flats of begonias,

One very dirty wife,

The smile on her face - - -

Priceless.

Fun Time at the Tigers' Game

Memorial Day Flag

Thanks Ben for making this happen, and to everyone who helped put in and up the flag pole and the flag. It looks great!!!

Memorial day weekend!

Yea it's the first holiday of the year at work, and it could not come at a better time. Family, fun, and baseball, and yes did I hear tailgating. Now when I think of tailgating I remember the words a wise man once taught me on my second trip to Michigan. Wisconsin is like Michigan, only better. So I am aware of the tailgating tradition. We will need beer of course( That's root beer, silly me). Now the Young's are making there way through the AL Central this season. Detroit, Minnesota, and finally Chi-town(booooooooooooooooooooooooooooo). That last game features the el tigres. But our game is Sunday night game of the week. First place vs second place. Should be awesome. Should be a great atmosphere. It has a lot to live up to as I have seen the new Busch stadium. The key is an extra day to spend on the other side of the pond. So that will be fun. I can't wait for this work day to end. Go BREWERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tailgate Party...

So, here's the deal. For dinner on Sunday night, before the "Sunday Night Baseball Game on ESPN", we are going to have a rip- roarin' tailgate party. Each family is responsible to bring something to share with the rest of us. Here are some menu suggestions, so sign-up for what you are going to bring. First come first serve.

Chips
Pop
Fruit
Dessert
Potato Salad
Cups, utensils, and Napkins
Plates

But everyone needs to bring their own sandwich to each. Everything else will be potluck. Any questions, call Dave. Because, I'm planning the party. Why? Because I'm a stinkin youth pastor.

The Boys (and Girl) of Summer

Well, we have officially started the Little League Season and said farewell to soccer for now!!! The boys have enjoyed baseball so far and so have Ben and I. Brendan has machine pitch and it is quite something to watch. I don't know if I would want to be at the receiving end of that machine!!! He even was catcher once. He has been doing a great job and his team is undefeated so far!!! It is a fun age to watch because they can make some plays. Dugan is playing T-ball but they just started coach pitch. Each kid gets three pitches and if they miss them all, they get to use the T. I have to say, they are all so darn cute at this level - it is fun to watch. Baseball is a wee bit slower paced than soccer, but at least the weather has been sunny!!! Daphne does okay watching the boys because she started gymnastics and they will have to watch her one of these times, and the Little League Fields have a concession stand that we frequent quite often!!

So, if you are ever in the mood for some baseball, come on down to Mattawan. The boys usually have a game on Friday night or Saturday mornings!!

Enjoy the pictures!

So I E-mailed This Letter

I wrote this yesterday and posted it, thinking that I was kinda clever. Then as the day went on I thought that maybe I was less clever and more immature, so I pulled the post. But today I reread it and thought that it may be "somewhat interesting", and so here is the post again.

My progression for reading the paper is as follows: I check out the front page, and read any interesting articles, then pull out the sports section, going through it completly. Then I go back to the front section and check on world news, which is usually in the middle pages of the front section, and then I go to the editorial page to get either a good laugh or my blood boiling. Lastly I browse through the remaining sections to see if there is anything interesting.

Yesterday in the GR Press I read an opinion piece by the very liberal sindicated columnist, Tom Teepen. Here is the beginning of his column. "It ought to count a a national embarrassment not just that the 10 Republican presidential aspirants were asked in their first debate whether they believe in evolution but, worse, that the question was called for. And worst of all, that three testified to their disbelief. So far has the Republican Party fallen into a sink of anti-intellectualism. Indeed, into fantasy. You might as well ask the canidates whether they believe in ghosts, faries and calorie-free doughnuts. One doesn't believe in evolution, any more than one believes or not in physics. Evolution simply is."

Now I use to just let these things pass, but I thought; "There is an e-mail address on the bottom of those opinion pieces, and golly, I have had some practice writing by doing my 2 Timothy blog, and - The dismissive attitude of every anti-intelligent design opinion piece really bugs me". So I sent Mr. Teepen the following:

Well, shoot! Thar ain't no intelligent design? Ya know, it cain't be easy being so ignorant like me that everyone else, and I mean everyone with half a brain, knows without even doubting that evolution IS. But being stubborn I tried to cipher them numbers so as to make some sense, cause my Daddy told me not to believe everything I read just cause it might be some salesman who got this great deal, cept it might not be what was advertised, you know? So I found out that the most simple cells have this DNA information chain thing that is 3 million links long. And that even the somewhat retarded cells in my body have DNA with 3 billion links. Wow! Seems that life requires that much information. I asked myself some questions. How did the first cell get even a fraction of that information? I mean, why would links form in the first place if they wern't going to help plow the field, if you know what I mean? Seems that it's not about chemistry. I read all those magazines and checked out the evolution web sites and it still seems that no one has the least idea, but they tell me that maybe I should'nt worry cause it's not that important. They says that what matters is gene mutation. So I asks this simple question. I can believe that whoever designed the millions and billions of information links could have put change into the program, so that you could get lots of dogs from the same dog. Even an ignoramis like me can see that. But where is the evidence for a dog becoming a cat, you know? Or a dog getting wings and becoming a flying dog? Seems that there is zero evidence (is zero too strong a word?) of anything being in the proces of developing more complex features. No fossles, no lab studies, nothing observed outside. Just change within the original program. And no reason why gene mutation would add design without immediate usefullness. So I asks myself one more simple question. What is the meaning of IS? Bob LaBarge

This morning I had a reply from Tom Teepen, sent at 1.42 AM, which means it was most likely from him and not a secretary. "Thank you for reading the GOP/evolution column and fer your comments. - -- Tom Teepen".

Happy Birthday Mallory

Today at 9:51 a.m. Mallory turned two years old. I woke got her up about that time and this is what she looked like.



On Sunday, Mallory will be dedicated at church, and the receptionist e-mailed me and said that Mallory's name meant "tough minded and spunky." She asked if we were alright with the meaning of her named being shared and I said; "sure because that is who she is!' So happy birthday to our tough minded and spunky Mallory!

Little Update

I'd thought that I'd give a quick post of some pictures from the trip to Holland, and of Ryan's freshly fixed nose! :) We had a great time last weekend, and were glad that we got to see everyone and spend some time hanging out. (Ben and Jan, I don't think that I've jumped on a tramp or played wiffle ball in years! We had a great time!) We're both looking forward to the trip coming up at the end of the month, it's not that far away and we're ready for some more baseball. (However, our Brewers over here aren't doing to shabby holding down the best record in baseball. Hopefully we'll see some Brewer-Tiger action in the playoffs this year)

Ryan's surgery went really well, though I have to admit that it's MUCH easier being on the receiving end of surgeries than the waiting end. Ryan got a good amount of morphine in post-op yesterday, and today he's doing really well and recovering nicely. He says that he's not in much pain, but that it's more of an annoying feeling than anything else. He'll get the packing removed on Monday, so hopefully after that it's smooth sailing, and on to phase two if necessary.

Thanks for all of the prayers and nice phone calls from everyone lately, they've been great and have meant alot. Hope that all is well in the metro-Holland area (Grand Rapids and Mattawan being the "metro" of course). We'll see you in a couple of weeks!