After Christmas Humour!

A Joke for Today

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas, and are looking forward to a happy New Year! We're slow roasting a Boston Butt for a pulled pork dinner, so I'll blog about that next, but today, all I have is a joke for you.

Okay, our scene opens in the waiting room of the hospital maternity ward.
It's a very busy night, and there are four men there.
As it turns out, they are all first-time fathers, and are all very nervous.
This happened before they expected fathers to be in the delivery room with the mom!

They are passing the time away by making small talk when the nurse enters the room.
She goes over to one of the men and says, "Congratulations Mr. Smith!
You are the father of TWINS!
Now your wife is recovering, and we'll let you see them all in just a few moments."
Mr. Smith says to the other men, "Wow, isn't that a coincidence?
My wife just had twins, and I am the general manager of the Minnesota Twins!"

The other guys all congratulate him and remark about how fortunate he is.

After a few more minutes, the nurse comes back in and goes over to another of the men and says, "Congratulations Mr. Jones! You are the father of TRIPLETS!
Now your wife is recovering, and we'll let you see them all in just a few moments."

Mr Jones sits down and exclaims, "Wow! Talk about coincidence!
Smith over there is the manager of the Minnesota Twins and his wife has twins.
My wife just had triplets and I am the regional sales manager for the 3M Corporation!"
The other guys all congratulate him and wonder about the odds of such a thing..

Several minutes later, the nurse comes back in and goes over to another of the men and says,
"Congratulations Mr. Baker! You are the father of QUADRUPLETS!
Now your wife is recovering, and we'll let you see them all in just a few moments."
Mr Baker almost faints, but manages to tell the other guys, "Boy, oh, Boy! you guys are not going to believe this!
I mean Mr. Smith manages the Minnesota Twins, and his wife gives birth to twins.
Mr. Jones is a regional sales manager for 3M and his wife gives birth to triplets.
And my wife gives birth to quadruplets, and I am the head chef at the Four Seasons Resort!"

All the others congratulate him and they all are astonished at the seeming coincidence of it all.

When they quiet down a little, they notice Mr. Habib sitting with his head in his hands moaning to himself. Mr. Smith goes over and asks him, "Hey buddy. What's the problem?"
Mr. Habib looks up and moans, "I dont think I should have taken that job at the 7-11!"

Merry Christmas!

I wanted to post something special for Christmas, but what? I heard a story on the radio, and thought it would make a good topic to blog, but when I was researching the story, I found something much better.

The first person to enter space was a Russian named Yury Alekseyavich Gagarin who took the first manned trip into outer space on April 12, 1961. It has been reported that he made a statement after his flight that he did not see God during his flight, but the statement was not widely reported.

It was the next Russian astronaut, Major Gherman Titov, who created much publicity when he triumphantly reported after his return to Earth: "I looked and looked, but I didn't see God."

Contrast that with the words of Gemini VII Pilot James Lovell who reported from space that he saw God EVERYWHERE.

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You will recognise James Lovell as one of the Apollo 13 astronauts. It was another member of the Apollo 13 crew, Jack Swigert, who uttered the phrase, "Houston, we have a problem." If you saw the movie, Tom Hanks was James Lovell.

So consider the present day when to utter the name of Christ at Christmas is found to be offensive by so many.

In addition to Apollo 13, James Lovell flew two Gemini missions, and Apollo 8. This is the good part of the story.

Apollo 8 was launched from Kennedy Space Center on December 21, 1968.
Their mission was to orbit the moon.

They reached the moon on December 24, 1968. As they orbited the moon and went around the back, or dark side of the moon, they lost radio contact until they were back in sight of the Earth. As they came around the moon the Earth rose above the moon's horizon, and this is what they saw...

Our Earth, floating against the black backdrop of space, above the barren surface of the lunar surface. A spectacular sight!

Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders became the first three humans to circle the moon in Apollo 8. On December 24th, Christmas eve, most Americans and people around the world were "glued" to radios and TVs as the astronauts approached a critical firing of their rockets on the backside of the moon while out of radio contact. With a successful firing, they would be aimed back at Earth; without it, they would have been lost in space and unable to return.

After many anxious moments, the voice of James Lovell announced to an expectant and relieved world: "Please be informed, there is a Santa Claus."

Then, looking at the "earthrise" over the horizon of the moon in what have become some of the most famous pictures of all time, the following happened...

I dont remember this, and I dont remember having ever seen it in all the time since that time. I find it amazing and inspiring that in the middle of all that technical and scientific achievement, these men still realised that we serve a truly Awesome God. What's more, they had the ability, the security, and the temerity to say so. These men, and so many others, such as Charles Duke, who piloted Apollo 16 to the moon, and is from Lancaster, SC, did, indeed, have the 'Right Stuff'.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

The Wonkie Whisperer and That Stuff®

The Wonkie Whisperer

If you've been following along for a while, you very well know that we are waiting for baby Wonkies to arrive. It is our fervent desire that they arrive for Christmas so that they might be Christmas Wonkies, however, they appear to be quite comfortable where they are, and Christmas is approaching fast! Therefore, we have enlisted the services of The Wonkie Whisperer to assist in getting them to 'cross over' so to speak.


The Wonkie Whisperer arrived last night and went right to work. You can tell that she is very compassionate and truly desires for the wonkies to cross over. She doesn't charge anything because she just wants to use her gift to help Wonkies!



The Wonkie Whisperer promised that she would stay with us for as long as was required to get the Wonkies to cross over! I think things are going well, and the Wonkie Whisperer appears to be in good spirits!





That Stuff®

Last night I made That Stuff®.

We call it That Stuff® because a friend made it for us one time when Mommy had surgery. She didn't tell us what it was called, so we called it That Stuff®.

Some people have tried to correct us by stating that it's called goulash, but we know goulash. We've eaten goulash, and That Stuff® is no goulash.

I promised to give you the recipe, and a review, so let's rock!

First, you get one of those BIG Spanish onions. Dont mess with any of those Vidalia's or the like.
They're always too small and flat, and they dont keep!
These big boys are always available at the Food Loin*, and they do the trick nicely!



Dice that dude up pretty good, and t'row it in de pot wid some hot oil!
(Sorry, but I couldn't resist a little Gullah!)



Make certain you keep your fingers out of the way of that knife!

Cook the onion a little bit, and then add about a pound or so of ground beef. Cook it all until the ground beef is browned, then add as much garlic as you like.



Now pour in a big can of diced tomatoes, and stir it all together.
I always try to get tomatoes that already have some stuff like Basil and Oregano in it.







Turn the fire down to low, and put a lid on it, cause we are done with this for a while.

Now get your big pot that you use for pasta, and put about a gallon or so of water in it, and put it on the biggest burner on the Glory to God setting!



Add about this much big salt, and wait for it to boil, but dont watch it, or it will NEVER boil!





Get a box of medium pasta shells (one pound) and a couple of packages of shredded mozzarella.



While you're waiting for the water to boil, go ahead and open the cheese and taste test it to ensure it's good.



Go ahead and eat as much as you want....that's why you have to have two packages.
If you skip this step, then you probably could get by with only one package!



When the water comes to a boil pour in the whole box of pasta shells, and let 'em boil until they're done. Add the cooked pasta to the other pot with the Onion, Tomatoes, and Meat.



Now add as much cheese as you have left!



Stir it up, and ring the bell, it's done!



Tonight we're using the Christmas china!



Daddy's plate. You hungry Dad?


(btw, those are Sister Schubert's Rolls on that plate!)

This That Stuff® is Hou Mei**!



I'm too cute to eat for the camera!



This is Daddy's plate a few seconds after we ax'ed the blessing!



This is mine....I guess I ate too much cheese during the preparation!



After the meal, I took a poll, and the overwhelming consensus was that That Stuff® is buon mangia! We all thought it could have used a bit more salt, however, a slight application at the table fixed that!

I highly recommend this dish.

Eat up, people!!!!


* I know it's LION, but Daddy always writes LOIN on the check to see if they'll notice. I think he needs a hobby.
** Our beautiful guide in China told us this means 'Delicious'!

A Little Humour

I want to tell you a joke today....

Daddy says his grandmother told him this joke when he was about my age.
He said his mother would get mad that her mother was telling them 'bad' jokes!

Okay, there are these three couples that are really good friends, and they do everything together.

One night they all decide to go out and eat.
On the way home, they hit a patch of ice in the road and have an accident.
They were going really fast, and the accident was very spectacular, and unfortunately, they were all killed.
So now they're all just outside Heaven.

They see two lines, one leads to the pearly gates and St. Peter, and they assume the other goes to the other place!

Naturally, they get in the line leading to St. Peter.
When the first couple gets to St. Peter, he looks at them and says, "Mr. Jones, your were a very greedy man in life.
You spent your entire life in the pursuit of money.
No amount was sufficient for you.
In fact, you were so obsessed with money that you married a woman named Penny.
Therefore, you will not be entering the Kingdom of Heaven.
Please go and stand in the other line."
So they left and went to the other line....

The second couple came up to St. Peter, and he said, "Mr. Smith, you are a drunkard!
You spent your entire life in pursuit of liquor.
No amount could satiate you.
In fact, you were so obsessed with liquor that you married a woman named Brandy.
Therefore, you will not be entering the Kingdom of Heaven.
Please go and stand in the other line."
So they left and went to the other line...

Upon seeing all this, the third couple became concerned.
The man turned to his wife and said, "Fanny, I dont think we're going to get in either.
We better just go get in the other line now."

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Tonight, we are having That Stuff®.

I will post the recipe, photos of the process, and a review tomorrow!

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This is very predictable and so very cool.
If this doesn't do anything to you, you're made of stone!

The Last Day of School, EVER!!!

TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!

Well, not really. It's the last day of school before our Christmas break. But we're not going back! Mommy is homeschooling us!

Andy and Jonathan still have to go, but ALL the girls get to be at home.



Last night, Daddy got home late, so me and Mommy cooked dinner. I think we did pretty good, although I had to keep telling Mommy what to do!

When Daddy got home, she kept asking him if we all were going to be sick, and if she cooked the ground beef enough.

Monday night we were invited to a CD release party!

Julian Saverance goes to our church, and he sings with daddy in the Chamber Choir, and the Church Choir, and the Praise Team!

This is his very first CD, and it's all brand new stuff, except for one track, and it's a brand new arrangement.

This was my very first CD release, so I was pretty excited about it.
There were a few celebrities from the Nashville Gospel scene, and the local community, too.

This is the CD



Can you see the title? It's called "Everyday Answers" and every song has that sort of a message in it.

He also autographed my CD to 'The Hon'!

This is Julian!



And this is his family.



His girls are on the CD, too, and I think his wife Dawn made ALL the good food!

This is Donna Beauvais from Hope's Call.



She produced the CD, and sang on many of the songs.
That's my Daddy behind us!



She autographed their current Christmas CD for us!

This is Brad Strider and Greg Gainer from Mercy's Well.



You probably recognise John Hess from Mungo, Nichols, and Hess!



This is Pastor Brian from Second Baptist Church.



This is Dr. Nic from Second Baptist Church.



This is Mark Blackmon, and his daughter, from King's Cause.



Mark wrote one of the songs on the CD and he sings on one, too.
This guy is REALLY good!

Oh, Wow! I almost forgot. Look at this food!



This is Glenn Totherow from His Mercy and GlennMark Promotions.





That's Pastor Brian behind us in the first photo, and Glenn's wife, Deena in the other.
Glenn is an interesting guy! Glenn and Deena are in the Choir and Praise Team, too!

This is me, and Andy, with Garfield, Julian's cat.



We got to listen to the whole CD, and Julian and Donna told us a few little stories behind each song, and how they recorded it.

Julian autographed a FREE copy for everyone there!

It is a very good CD.