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Showing posts from April, 2008

Currently Reading

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I'm reading Phillip Keller's book, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 . It's a verse-by-verse look at Psalm 23. The interesting thing about it is that Keller was a sheep herder at one time. I love how he allows us to see it from a modern day shepherd. Doing so brings an interesting perspective for the reader. He also drives home some things about our Shepherd that we take for granted whenever we read the 23rd Psalm. Like. . . Who is this Shepherd that David is referring to? He then spends some time explaining the incredible ability of the Lord who steps up to the plate to be our Shepherd. It's not a very long book. So. . .if you're looking for something to expand your spiritual thinking and teach you at the same time I would definitely recommend this book. Enjoy! Mike

New Addition to the Blog

In case you haven't noticed, I've added a new section to the blog - just below my profile. It's called twitter dee, twitter dum . It's posts I make to the blog through the twitter service I've been playing around with. They won't be long - 140 characters or less. But I can make quick entries to post thoughts, ideas, funny situations, etc. You can follow my posts by phone, facebook, or through the blog. Thought I would give it a whirl, so enjoy! Mike

The Power of the Blog

James Karl Buck used his blog and Tweeter to let the world know what was going on. When he and his translator were arrested earlier this month while covering riots in Egypt, Buck typed in one word - "Arrested" - to let the world know what was going on. Read the complete story here . After he was freed from detention he posted another blog - "Freed." Mike

What about the hardwood floors?

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After looking at the blog pics of our house, I just realized the living room pics didn't post either. I remember doing it, but I think in the rush trying to finish I clicked on something and it deleted the original pics of the kitchen and living room from the first blog "Our new home". I think I will leave the blogging to Mike from now on. Anyway, here are some pics of the new living room with our hardwood floors. If you didn't know, Mike had been living the past two years with just concrete floors. That's not quite conducive to women's feet shall we say. He had taken the living room carpet up shortly after he moved in due to hurricane Katrina, he had no air conditioning for awhile and the wet carpet began to smell. Well, he couldn't decide on what to do and his schedule was usually crazy (those of you who know Mike's work ethic, you know what I mean! Can we say take a breather?), and not just that, he's a guy, he thought the untreated concrete flo

Some Days are too Short

Yes, some days just don't last long enough. Yesterday was one of them. It started with prayer at 6:00 am at the church - all the men of our church are invited to join our pastor to pray for needs in the church, our community, and our homes. Bible study was cool. We discussed testing the spirits of false prophets. Then I cheered/prayed for Cindy as she answered phones for the One80 Outdoor Show - yes, we have our own hunting and fishing show we show primarily on Sundays in 35 millions homes across the nation. When they call in to register for a free gun or bow we ask for permission to share the gospel with them and to date have had almost 800 people pray to receive Christ. Then we have a former pastor and missionary who searches out a church to disciple them. It was a beautiful day to get outside - which we did. Yesterday afternoon after getting some things together for our Tanzania Missions Meeting, Cindy and I took Dakota for a walk. Wasn't far, but that's OK. Last

For Sarah

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Hey Sarah! Recognize anything in this pic? It looks great in our house. Thanks again for the Christmas present. Love, Uncle Mike & Aunt Cindy

Our new kitchen

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Ok, I'm back. Let's see about posting up some pics of this new kitchen we sweated over this weekend. You notice anything missing? No more columns and marble wallpaper! We got so high taking off the border in the guest bathroom (not really, but it made you woosey) that we opted to putty in the seams from the wall of marble and put textured/paintable wallpaper over that sucker. We put the winery wanna be to rest. We also added new countertops and a new sink and disposal. The pantry doors were painted gray like the walls, but after 5 coats of white paint (that was my project for the day, and I thought I'd never get it covered!), they are finally WHITE. Mike also changed out the hardware on the cabinets from brass to silver. Later on, we want to put up some new light fixtures for the kitchen and we will be pretty much done. Here's the laundry room. We didn't do much in here except cleaned up and put a shelf up for the laundry baskets. Thanks Mike! I also forgot to tell

Our new house

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Hi all, it's Cindy here letting all you have a sneak peak and what Mike has been yapping about in words. Let me take you on a photo journey through our new and improved Shipp home. No, we haven't moved, we have just updated the old hacienda. Let's start our journey shall we? You are going to anyway.......... Welcome! Nothing new here but doesn't it look pretty? We think so! Now, we have cleaned through our joining things and decorated with our collaborated stuff and styles to make it ours but I'm just going to show you what we've been working on structurally with the house in this blog, you know, with hammer, nails, glue, sweat, drills, paint, chemicals and so on.....I think you get the picture. Here is our new hallway...notice the exquisite wood floors! Here is the guest bathroom. We removed the border at the top and painted it a light blue, put up a new mirror, added some towel hangers and a new shower curtain (Thanks Steph). Our bedroom. We painted this room

Saying Goodbye

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In the midst of all that was going on last week, we had to say goodbye to Sadie. She was our black lab. She had been doing fine until the end of last week. On Friday Cindy took her to the vet who shared with us that her kidneys were failing. She was old - almost 13 years old - and that happens when you get old. There was also a softball-size mass on one of her shoulders. There was no guarantee that anything we did would restore her health and she was suffering. So we said "Goodbye." Sadie was always ready to play and eat - boy did she like to eat! She loved being outside. Many a day I would look out the back door and in the middle of the yard there would be Sadie - laying on her back, paws dancing in the air, rolling around like a puppy. When the temp got up in the hot zone - it was nothing for Sadie to jump in the pond to cool off. She wouldn't fetch anything, but she would just stand there enjoying the cool dip in the agua. Her presensce and her sweet face wil

WHEW!!

A week ago Cindy's parents - Tom & Dora - showed up to help us do some upgrades. Well. . .we did it! Thanks to their help we were able to. . Replace the counter top Add new sink (it's deeper) Add new garbage disposal (you say dispose-all, I say disposal) Removed wallpaper columns from the breakfast area and kitchen Added textured wallpaper in breakfast area (to cover up existing "marble" wallpaper) Painted the kitchen and breakfast area (Gobe Desert - light tan) Cleaned out cabinets Cleaned up and organized laundry room Removed old door & frame on the dog's room Installed new door and doggy door on the dog's room - now called the Rec Room Installed tile in the Rec Room Installed new water heater Called for a chiropractor and a masseuse! (Ok we haven't done this yet) If it hadn't been for Tom & Dora there's no way we we would have accomplished all that we did. Thanks Big T and Miss Dora! This week we moved things around - Elliptical

Going Crazy

Cindy's parents are coming in Thursday to help install new counter tops in the kitchen, put tile down in the back room (it used to be the garage before previous owners remodeled it and made it into a room), install a new door and doggy door, do some painting, and whatever else we can do while they are here. To get ready, we've mowed the yard - raked up excess grass, edged, weed-eated (is this a word), and blew off the patio and driveway - fixed the back door where it used to leak, replaced the trim around the back door, drained the pond, fixed the landscaping boarders around the pond and the flower beds, and removed the vinyl time from the back room. Now I've got to clean house, put the stuff back into the back room , get ready for Cindy's parents, pick up the door and doggy door, take stuff to the storage building, and pick up a load today to be delivered tomorrow. WHEW!! Well. . .I guess I've got to get busy! C Ya! Mike

Congrats to KU!

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Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times Well, sports fans, my hat's off to the Jayhawks of KU! They survived and became the NCAA Men's Basketball National Champions. I was hoping for a close game and I got that. I was hoping Memphis would win and they had a chance. Hey Memphis, if you're not going to blow teams off the court, you had better learn to shoot free throws!!! Yep, that's what did them in - free throws. So, for all you NCAA Championship hopefuls, PRACTICE MAKING YOUR FREE THROWS! It was still a great game. Mike

In Search of the "God Particle"

Read an article this morning entitled 'God Particle' Expected to Be Found Soon . It's as much about physics as it is about God. As I was reading, though, I found some interesting quotes: The new Geneva collider will re-create the rapidly changing conditions in the universe a split second after the Big Bang. It will be the closest that scientists have come to the event that they theorize was the beginning of the universe. Nobel laureate Leon Lederman has dubbed the theoretical boson "the God particle" because its discovery could unify understanding of particle physics and help humans "know the mind of God." The physics part I'll give them, but the God part. . .I don't know. What I'm gather from the article is that they hope to find out what it was like after the big bang? How do you discover something that never happened? Hhhmmmmm. . . I find it fascinating that God says His thoughts and ways are above ours , yet for some strange reason w

The Masters

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This week kicks off one of my favorite weeks of golf - The Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, GA. I don't play as much as I used to - actually, I don't play at all. Still have my clubs and I still enjoy playing when I can get a round in. I just don't play. Regardless, I still love watching certain tournaments and this is one of them. I love the drama, the course, the game, and the excitement that surrounds The Masters. So. . .will Tiger win another one? He's been hot - like you could fry an egg hot. Do you think he will continue his 2008 charge? He's good on technical courses and he's always long. He also desires to get better. He never settles for the status quo. If not Tiger, then who do you think has a chance to win it this year? I like Tiger - I like his attitude, his will to win, and his chances to win it again this year. Mike

Final Four

The Final Four is finally down to the Final Two . The Kansas Jayhawks will be facing the University of Memphis Tigers . This is a tough one for me. I could cheer for Kansas and the Big 12, or I could go with my heart and get behind Memphis. Either way I don't think I could go wrong. I'm going with the Tigers. Ever since I watched them dismantle Texas and UCLA - especially their guards - I've been a believer. So who are you pulling for? Mike

The Blogging Blahs

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I was wondering, if you're a blogger, do you ever get the blogging blahs? I mean, it's not like I don't have stuff to write about - Final Four, Longhorns getting ousted last weekend, Grants take on mushrooms, pickled okra, and fried foods, books I'm reading, lessons God is leading me to learn, struggles of my own, stupid stuff in the world around me. . .and on, and on, and on. iStockPhoto/Anna Bryukhanova It's just that I don't feel like sitting down and conjuring up thoughts and putting them on "paper." So. . .that's how I feel. . .I've think I've got the blogging blahs. If you've had them before, what did you do to shake them or did it just come with time? I would love to hear your story and how you came out of them. Mike