Mother's day

After my mother, both my daughters, and my older daughter's boyfriend's mom, and I went to church together, I took them to lunch.

My daughter's and I then presented my mother with her gift from us; five flower planters.

Pot luck

This is the dish I made for our most recent pot luck at church. I boiled and then shredded some chicken thighs, cooked some sausage, and combined that with some green beans, stewed tomatoes, cream of mushroom soup, cream of chicken soup, taco seasoning, green chili sauce, and topped it with some cornbread dressing.

Solar eclipse

Total solar eclipse in De Queen, Arkansas

I kept Destiny out of school on Monday to drive two hours west so we could be at the center of the total solar eclipse. Camden only experienced about 95% eclipse for just over a minute. We drove to De Queen, where the eclipse was 100% and more than four minutes.

I don't know what some people were expecting to happen, but clearly paranoia was part of it. The governor declared a state of emergency ahead of the eclipse in case so many visitors caused disruptions to traffic flow.

There was 500 to 1,000 people at the Herman Dierks Memorial Park, some from neighboring states. It was perfect weather with only slight cloud cover. The clouds were not a factor once the eclipse started.

We took a picnic lunch with us and had a great time.

I took all of these photos by holding my disposable eclipse glasses against the lens of my Samsung Galaxy S21+ without using any kind of stand or mount and using maximum zoom. I think they turned out pretty good.

This is a picture of the park showing how the light is dissipating.

We left shortly after the totality.

Easter 2024

https://www.youtube.com/live/GQNAUmWo7PA?si=FCvrmEW0jkqafniI

Easter dinner. Mashed potatoes, gravy, fried shrimp, fried chicken, green bean casserole, and rolls.

The Upper Room 4 up Lord's Supper

https://www.youtube.com/live/uW7NRdiFOQY?feature=shared

Paris, Texas

We stopped at Paris, Texas on the way home. I was only expecting to find the tower, but was very pleasantly surprised and pleased to find a beautiful war memorial next to it. I am so glad to have stopped. It was worth it to me.

Car collection museum

This is Bill's Backyard Classics cars museum in Amarillo, Texas.

The pins represent where visitors to the museum are from. We were the first to put a pin on the map for Camden, Arkansas.

We also visited Escape the Trap House. We didn't escape, but came close. Destiny had fun.

Cadillac Ranch

This is Cadillac Ranch, just outside Amarillo, Texas. The many layers of paint that visitors have applied to the cars have slowly oozed off the cars in puddles. You can see the many layers of the paint, with cars somewhere underneath.

Spring Break 2024 vacation across Texas and Palo Duro Canyon.

Palo Duro Canyon State Park

Palo Duro Canyon is the 2nd largest canyon in the United States.

There is a rich Native American history in the canyon with a very sad ending.

Home gym

Yoga ball, workout bench, free weights, and elastic bands.

Baby likes to watch my workouts. 

New kitten.

My older daughter really misses her cat that was run over, so she already got a replacement kitten that looks very much the same. This one is a girl and is very affectionate and sweet. Our cat hates it. Maybe they will learn to get along and play some day.

I call it 'Tiny Bubbles'.

Victory Christian School Christmas 2023 program

 Destiny had a part in her school Christmas program again this year.

Christmas 2023

 We had Christmas dinner with my older daughter, her boyfriend, his two daughters, and his mother.

Children's handbells

Christmas choir 2023

Christmas party

Christmas message from my pastor, Brother Richard

Windshield, Rear-View Mirror, and Christmas

The windshield and the rear-view mirror are a great team. Every driver needs to see both forward and backward. Christmas is like a combination of windshield and rear-view mirror.

Christmas enables us to look back on things that matter. For many of us, thinking about Christmas in the past is a way of measuring changes in ourselves and in our families.

I remember Christmas as a kid, anxious to open presents and eat candy. Christmas as a young adult, going to parties with friends and coworkers. Christmas as a dad, watching my son open his presents and play with his new toys. Christmas as the years add up, missing family members who have passed away and are now absent from holiday gatherings.

Christmas helps me think about things that happened in my past, reminding me of who I am and where I came from.

Christmas also enables us to look forward. We make plans. We put up the decorations. We purchase presents. We send out cards. We prepare for special times of worship and family gatherings. Christmas Day becomes a focus of anticipation and hope, always moving closer in time. In addition, there’s always another Christmas next year.

This year, Karen and I were planning to go and spend Christmas with my sisters and brother, with our son and his girlfriend, with our family. Christmas plans remind me of who is important to me now, who I want to see and spend time with now and next year.

Christmas is more.

Christmas enables me to look back much further than my own lifetime and to see things much broader than my own personal family and friends. Christmas gives all of us the eyes to look back two thousand years and see God’s personal presence entering our world in a remarkable way, through the birth of Jesus.

Christmas is a marker in time that reminds us about some essential things. God loved us enough to send Jesus. Jesus’ birth was God joining us in history, bringing good news. God has not forgotten or forsaken us despite our disobedience. God cares about us and has deep compassion for us.

Christmas is a reminder that God fulfills his promises. He promised to send a Savior. Jesus is that Savior. He came, just like God promised. So we can believe in God’s promises that are still pending. If God did what he promised on the first Christmas, then God will do what he has promised to do in our future.

God promises to send Jesus again, his Second Coming. The first time Jesus came, he saved us. Next time, he will come to gather us and bring us home to him and to his eternal blessings. Be amazed! Be encouraged! God started something on that first Christmas. He will finish it!

May the Lord give us eyes to see clearly both backward and forward this Christmas,

Brother Richard

Byrna

This is my Byrna. It is legal to carry open or concealed in all 50 states without a permit or license. I carry my when camping and anytime I leave home. I keep it by my bed at night.

It is less-lethal. It fires round projectiles. This green and blue ammo is filled with a tear-gas type powder that breaks open when it hits its target. The cloud of powder will cause anyone near it to have difficulty breathing and their eyes to water so bad that can't see. Each magazine holds five rounds of ammo. You can also store an extra shot in the muzzle.

There are other rounds, such as this hard plastic that will shatter a car window at close range, or cause a large amount of pain and bruise if it hits person.

There is a CO2 cartridge in the nose of the launcher that after punctured from firing the first shot, can shoot about 12 to 15 shots before losing power. It fires accurately up to around 50 meters.

 

Christmas 2023 decorations

This is Destiny being funny wearing the new jacket I bought her at the Titanic Museum in Branson. 

I didn't decorate this year. I wanted to encourage my mother to decorate. Destiny helped. 

Mom's TV.

Christmas village. 

Mother made and painted these nativity pieces in a ceramics class when we lived in England. 

She also made this Christmas tree in the class. For those who don't recognize it, this is my office. 

These are some souvenirs we bought in Branson on vacation to give as Christmas gifts. The bear and key chain are for my older daughter, and the rest for my mother. 

Branson, Missouri, Thanksgiving vacation (1 of 10)

I am writing this on one blog post to give an overview of our Branson, Missouri Thanksgiving vacation, but there will be links to see pictures, videos, and read more detail about each experience.

 1st day, Thursday, November 23rd (Thanksgiving Day) 

 Since I have been working so hard, and am receiving some work bonuses, I decided to take Destiny on a nice vacation to Branson, Missouri. The main attraction I wanted to see was Silver Dollar City, decorated for Christmas. I also wanted to see some shows.

I checked out some hotels, and although some of the prices were good, a few required that we sit through a two hour sales pitch for timeshare, which I didn't want to do. After reading the reviews for each hotel, they all had poor reviews because of bedbugs. So, I rented a condo on Airbnb. 

We left home on Thanksgiving day in the morning with only a five hour drive and perfect weather. We didn't have a schedule, and were in no hurry. It was a wonderfully relaxing journey. It was 1:30 when we arrived, but check in wasn't until 3, so we went downtown, just to look around.

The first thing we saw that both of us were excited about was the Ferris wheel. There was no line, and even though Destiny was a little nervous about the height, we enjoyed going around twice and having a wonderful view of the city.

Right across the road was Ripley's Believe It or Not museum. We went there next, and enjoyed looking around before going to the condo.

This is the view of the golf course out the back of the condo.

We had plans to go to a Chinese buffet for Thanksgiving dinner. We have done this before. In fact, we are a very non-traditional family when it comes to celebrating Thanksgiving. Sometimes we have might have steak or sandwiches. I tried calling the Chinese restaurant to see if they were open, but nobody answered the phone. I decided on a different restaurant that was open, the Grand Country Buffet.

2nd day, Friday, November 24th

We brought a few breakfast burritos with us to have Friday and Saturday mornings. The people we rented the condo from provided coffee. I just can't sleep late, even when I'm on vacation. I woke at sunrise, had breakfast, played games on my phone, and watched TV until I finally woke Destiny, who was sleeping on the sofa in the one room condo.

I started to book tickets for Silver Dollar City the night before, and discovered that some of the things I wanted to do were not available for Friday. Instead, I made reservations for the Titanic Museum, which Destiny really wanted to go to, as well as made reservations for the aquarium, wax museum, and three other activities.

We had lunch at McDonald's after the Titanic Museum and going to the aquarium. We had dinner at Golden Corral after the other activities in the afternoon. We retired back to the condo early in the evening, spending time relaxing and watching a movie.

3rd day, Saturday, November 25th

Silver Dollar City had an advertised opening time of 11, but were able to enter after arriving around 10. Tickets to enter the theme park include all the rides and shows, but I paid for special tickets to enter two of the shows by skipping the long lines. I also paid for a special lantern tour of the main attraction of the park, Marvel Cave.

We had burgers for lunch at the park, which wasn't cheap. We didn't leave the park until nearly 8. I had dinner at the park, but Destiny wasn't hungry until we left. We stopped at one place on the way to the condo, but they were closed, so I ordered her a Hawaiian pizza to be delivered.

The bed in the condo was very comfortable, and I really appreciated the jacuzzi tub after a long day of walking all over the hilly park and going down and up all the stairs in the cave.

4th day, Sunday, November 26th

We woke early, and stopped at Shoney's for breakfast on the way out of town. Even though it's only a five hour drive, I wasn't in a hurry on the way to Branson or on the way home. The weather was nice both ways, with no rain, snow or ice. Of course the traffic was much more on the way home, because everyone was returning from their different Thanksgiving plans.

(view from a lookout along the road to the condo)

https://www.arkansascarl.page/2023/12/the-branson-ferris-wheel.html (2 of 10)