SixSibs

So many things have happened since I blogged last!
Rachel turned 11 on December 11, we had a Christmas celebration, and of course 2012 arrived.
We’ll (Lord willing) be able to make higher quality movies this year, as, for Christmas, Luke and I both got cameras that shoot 720p video and our entire family got an iMac.
I hope you all have a great 2012!

I know it’s not exactly summer anymore, and our promised release date is several months behind “schedule”, but we finally have finished “John the Detective 2″. The continuity isn’t all that great, since we filmed it over several days and during those several days the temperature swung from under 20 to almost 50, but even still, I think you’ll like it.
Enjoy!

This Animation has actually been the product of over six month’s of off and on work. I built the model back in the spring, but I couldn’t get it to “walk” the way I wanted it to, so I just abandoned it until a few days ago, when I decided to give animating it another try. I think I’ve finally succeeded in creating a semi-realistic walking gait this time around.

I was just goofing around one morning, trying to make a model of our house, and after a while I decided that our house would take too long to model, so I used the rough outline I’d already made to build a barn. My barn looked kind of lonely, just hanging out there in space, so over the next few days I added a silo, a windmill, a farmhouse, some fences and some grass, animated the camera to “fly” over the whole deal and, voila! I ended up with the animation below:

This Friday, 11-11-11, I was able to run in the Run to the Lights at Silver Dollar City with my dad and 3 oldest siblings. We all did pretty well, and although none of us broke any records (the course we had to run was viciously steep at times), we all had a lot of fun and thoroughly enjoyed it!

You can see all of the results at https://www.ozarkraces.com/results/default.aspx?event=3170&r=1547

As all of you who have been diligently following this blog for a while know, I read “Redwall” a few months ago, and really enjoyed it, so much in fact, that I am now reading it aloud to my siblings. The reason that I read “Redwall” in the first place was because it was one of the books I was required to read for an online grammar class that I’m taking through The Potter’s School, and one of the assignments we needed to do for the class was make a “Redwall” themed sword,tapestry or meal. I, never one to turn down a chance for a good meal, decided to go in that direction, and made “Hunter’s Hot-Pot”, which is basically a stew of carrots, potatoes, onions, peppers, spices and water with a fancy, “Redwally” name.

I had a lot of fun making it, although it was pretty easy, as all I had to do was chop up some vegetables and toss them in a pot of boiling water with some spices until they were soft, and I then got to do the part that was the most fun of all: eating it!

My mom thought it would be nice to have something to go with the Hot-Pot, so we not only had it, but we were also able to have  some biscuits (or, as my sister called them because they were made with flax seed and needed a “Redwally” name, ”Fall Flax Favorites”) that my mom had made earlier in the day. Everyone said that the food was delicious, although my dad pointed out that whoever the hunter was that invented this recipe wasn’t a very good one, as he hadn’t been able to catch anything to put in it!

If you’d like the recipe you can go to http://www.redwall.net/kitchen/main.html. The recipe I used is fifth from the top.

As you who have been reading our blog for a while may know, back in July I made everyone a dinner at “Adam’s Diner”. Well, I’ve done three more since then, each time with a different theme, and I thought I’d share some pictures with you from one that I did several Saturdays ago with my dear sister Rachel.

We did a sub sandwich shop theme, complete with homemade sub rolls.

Rachel whipped up a batch of chocolate milk, which was a big hit with everyone.


Rachel and I greatly enjoyed preparing the food, almost as much as everyone enjoyed eating it, which, in our family, is saying a lot!

Hello to all of my millions of adoring fans!
Yes, I’m still alive! Sorry about the lack of posting in October, but November is a new month, so you can look forward to some (hopefully) good posts coming soon!
Thanks,
Adam

On October 1 all of the six sibs had the privilege of running (or in Paul’s case riding in the stroller) in the “Run for Life” 5k, for the benefit of the Pregnancy Care Center.

Our times were all (I think) pretty good: 22:26 Adam,30:35 Luke, 34:35 Rachel, 35:25 John and 48:49 Isaac, and we all had a delightful time!

By Adam E. Heironimus

“Erasing Hell”, by Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle, is about what the bible says about hell. This book doesn’t try to sugarcoat any of the things God said about what will happen after we die, but merely presents what God said in the manner that he said it, in the light that, as God says in Isaiah 55:9,”As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” and he knows what is ultimately best. Francis Chan said that the fact that there is a hell and that many of the people around us will be going there should be a motivation to us to tell everyone we possibly can about Christ’s love, in order to save them from going there. I would highly recommend that you read this book if you have any questions about what happens after we die and what hell really is, and would give it 5 out of 5 stars.

You can buy “Erasing Hell” on Amazon.com

By Adam E. Heironimus

“Lies That Go Unchallenged in Popular Culture”, by Charles Colson, is a collection of short, 4 page devotions that deal with different moral, ethical, and religious issues facing our nation, and what we evangelical Christians can do to fix them.I was very encouraged by it and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a book to help them combat the decay and decadence in our culture with the word of god. I would give this book 5 stars out of 5.

You can buy “Lies That Go Unchallenged in Popular Culture” on Amazon.com

By Adam E. Heironimus

I recently finished reading “Redwall” by Brian Jaques. It was about the adventures of a mouse named Matthias as he tries to protect the abbey of Redwall from being destroyed by an evil rat named Cluny the Scourge and his army. It’s a wonderfully written and well crafted tale of  the struggle between good and evil, and I would highly recommend it  to anyone looking for an exciting fantasy novel, giving it 5 out of 5 stars.

You can purchase this book on Amazon.com

By Adam E. Heironimus

Today I started and finished reading my siblings “Defeat of the Ghost Riders” by Dave and Neta Jackson. It was about Celeste Key, a “negro” girl growing up in the early 1900′s, who, at the very beginning of the book, lives with her family in Statesboro Georgia. Trouble soon strikes, and after members of the Ku Klux Klan burn down her father’s blacksmith shop, they leave in search of a more friendly place to live, finally settling down in Daytona Florida, where her father finds work on the railroad that’s being built there. While she is living in Daytona, she meets Mary McLeod Bethune and becomes one of the very first girls to enroll in the school that Mrs. Bethune is setting up for “colored” girls there. By the end of the book, Celeste has learned to overcome her fear of the “Klansmen” and serve others, living Mrs. Bethunes philosophy of helping others and improving life for everyone around her. We all really enjoyed this book (as is evidenced by the fact that we read it in one solid 3 hour sitting!) and using the 5 star rating system I would give this book a 5!

You can buy this book on Amazon.com

For John’s Birthday, I had given him a “Super Duper Flip Card” with lots of activities that we could do together listed on it. Two of them had been a hike and a backyard camp-out, so we decided to combine them and take a hike down to the river that runs behind our house, spend the night, and come back the next morning. We had a lot of fun, and I thought you might enjoy some of the pictures I took of our “adventures”, so here they are:

We headed out of civilization at 5:20

Once we got down to the river we immediately began setting up our tent because of the thunder we could hear in the distance 

After getting our camp set up, we did some exploring, finding some sticks that we could use to cook our dinner on

We started cooking our “gourmet” as soon as the sticks were whittled (it was starting to rain)

Yum! (I assume, John ate 5!)We then cooked our dessert: Marsh mellows! (We were manly men and used the same sticks we had roasted our hot dogs on!)

Yum again! We did more exploring until it got darkWe then piled into our tent for the night

John said, “Good night, Don’t let the ground bugs bite!”

We woke up at 6:25 and immediately began making breakfast

John was able to warm two things at once over the campstove!

Yum yet again!

After we finished eating, we packed everything up and left our campsite to make a round-about way towards home

Home at last!

By Adam E. Heironimus

Today I finished reading my siblings “The Bandit of Ashley Downs” by Dave and Neta Jackson. ”The Bandit of Ashley Downs” is about an orphan boy named Curly, who lives in London during the Industrial Revolution. One day Curly overhears a man telling a church congregation that there will be  £3,000 traveling by private coach to Bristol in several days to benefit the orphanage there, thinking no one outside of the small group of people overhears. Curly takes this bit of information to his criminal friends, and they make a plan to hold up the stagecoach, taking the money intended for the orphans for themselves. Their evil scheme succeeds, but after only a few weeks, they are found out and jailed. Curly, because he is so young, is taken to an orphanage run by George Muller called Ashley Downs, where he learns about God’s love and provision by watching God provide for the needs of all of the orphans there. The book ends in a somewhat surprising (and thoroughly good) way, and I would highly recommend it to you, giving this book 4.5 out of 5 stars

You can buy “The Bandit of Ashley Downs” on Amazon.com

By Adam E. Heironimus

Today I finished reading my siblings “The Only Sister” by Dorcas M. Mast.

“The Only Sister” is about a girl named Carrie Seymour, who, although having 6 brothers, is, as the title says, “The Only Sister”. Carrie struggles being the only girl and often wishes that God had sent her family another girl, but in the end she finally realizes that God’s plan for her life is best, and becomes content with the situation God has placed her in. That’s not the whole book though! “The Only Sister” also chronicles some of the many adventures that Carrie and her 6 brothers have, frying eggs in the microwave (with disastrous results!), falling from horses (also with disastrous results!) and building, baking, and inventing all sorts of other things (with varying results). We would all highly recommend this book and using the 5 star rating system I’d give this book a 5!)

P.S. We’ve read this book aloud three times and Rachel has read it to herself an additional 7.- I hope that removes any of your doubts as to whether or not it really is a good book!

You can buy “The Only Sister” on RodandStaffbooks.com

By Adam E. Heironimus

Yesterday I finished reading “Jesus Freaks II: Revolutionaries” by dc Talk. It was a collection of short stories about Christians who were willing to be revolutionaries, people who went against the “norm” and were willing to be “Jesus Freaks”. I was really blessed by all of the stories, but  the story of an Indian believer named Sundar Singh, who was imprisoned, beaten and threatened multiple times and eventually disappeared on a missionary journey to Tibet in 1929, was one that really stood out to me. He said “The true Christian is like sandalwood, which imparts its fragrance to the ax which cuts it, without doing any harm in return.”  I was amazed by how many people were willing to be “like sandalwood”, and continued to pray for and share the Gospel with their enemies, even as they were being tortured in ways almost too horrible to imagine. I was very blessed by reading this book and would highly recommend it to anyone.

Using the 5 star rating system, I would give this book a 5, and I would highly recommend you check it out from your local library or buy it on Amazon.com!

Our parents bought us a 5 pond chunk of dry ice this afternoon, much to the delight of everyone!

John was prepared

Paul wasn’t quite so prepared for what the dry ice would taste like mixed with water- “blech”!

Our pool is already starting to cool off, so John decided to speed up the process a little bit!

Paul’s own personal fog machine!

Dry ice is sooo fun!

Beware of the robot man, for you never know who he will strike next! (and being struck by an empty Wal-Mart bag is bound to leave a mark!)

Rachel and I made a batch of chocolate pudding yesterday

But that’s not the funny part.

Not wanting to be outdone, Paul and Isaac also decided to make “pudding”- in a much less contained, clean (and boring) way!

Oh the joy of being 3 or 6!

This Saturday I had the privilege of taking my dear brother Luke on a “trip” into town. We had a very good time, wandering around and seeing the “sights” and I thought you might like to see a few (or actually, a few more than a few) pictures from it.

We got dropped off at Arris’ Pizza at 11:15 and immediately ordered our Pizza(s!)

They arrived at 11:35, and we dug in!

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end sometime! Our pizza did at 11:50 and we headed out, visiting several nearby stores to look around.

“Cathole” trowel anyone?

We stopped at a used bookstore and bought several books and we then started walking to the bus stop that would take us to our next destination.

We walked,

And walked,And walked! Over 3 and a half miles, all told! And the really annoying thing about it was that we had only actually needed to walk about 1 mile, but I, the experienced world traveler, had gotten one of our turns wrong, necessitating all that extra 2 and a half! We finally arrived at our bus stop though, and sat down to wait for the bus to come.

Luke said “I never thought a patch of grass and a bottle of water could be so good!”

We rode the bus to Lighthouse Lanes, where we bowled and played air hockey.

We then went back outside and did some more waiting for the bus. This is a picture I texted  my mom while we were waiting, I titled it “Waiting for the bus-Heironimus style!”

I guess this would be riding the bus, Heironimus style!

We walked from the bus stop to Mama Jean’s Natural Market

We ate dinner and bought some “treats” for every one else and at 5:10 we left

We went to Bass Pro, the final stop on our trip, and at 6:15 we were picked up, having had a wonderful 7 hours together!

By Adam E. Heironimus

Today I finished reading “The Dumbest Generation” by Mark Bauerlein. It was about the effect that reading (or not reading) has on teenagers minds, and how it makes them better students, workers and citizens when they do so. The book was split into three main sections, the first showed how reading is on a sharp decline among young adults and teenagers, and how that decline has been accelerated by digital media. The second was about how teachers, professors and mentors aren’t doing enough to stop this “dumbness” that’s invading America’s youth culture, and the final section was about the dire consequences that could come from not instilling in children, teenagers and young adults a love to read and absorb knowledge of all genres, types and forms. Mr. Bauerlein  said that learning to appreciate the old as well as the new, the established as well as the cutting edge, is the only way that we can hope to preserve our American system of Law, Justice and Freedom for generations to come, and reading will greatly aid in doing that. I really liked “The Dumbest Generation” and would highly recommend that you read it, (rather than some strange 15 year old’s blog entries) I think you will be very interested by it and I would give it 4 out of an available 5 stars

You can buy “The Dumbest Generation” on Amazon.com

By Adam E. Heironimus

I recently had the privilege of reading “Lose your Cool” by Zach Hunter. It was about how we all need to wake up from our normal, everyday lives and become passionate: passionate for Jesus, passionate for the poor, and passionate for the things that we know are right. Every chapter in “Lose your Cool” profiled several passionate individuals such as William Wilberforce, Keith Green, Mother Teresa or George Muller who had been able to use their passion to change the world in a positive way, and told how we too could also become like them and use our talents, abilities and gifts for good. I really enjoyed reading  this book and would highly recommend it to anyone.

Using the 5 star system, I would give “Lose your Cool” 5 stars!

You can purchase “Lose your Cool” at Amazon.com

By Adam E. Heironimus

I recently finished reading “Radical” by David Platt. As the subtitle says, it is about “taking back your faith from the American dream” and living a life that’s radically devoted to Jesus Christ. David Platt says over and over in his book that Jesus didn’t call us to live comfortable lives, hoarding our resources to use selfishly on ourselves- Jesus called us to “take up our cross and follow him” wherever he happens to lead us, whether it’s to Africa or to the downtown rescue mission, whether he calls us to spread the gospel in Asia or our own neighborhoods- we as Christians are called to be radical, giving of our time, our money and ourselves to further advance God’s kingdom. This book was very convicting to me and I would highly recommend it to anyone who’s interested in making a positive impact in the world they live in, rather than just sitting back and watching others serve Jesus. I would give it 5 out of an available 5 stars.

“Radical” is available at Amazon.com

By Adam E. Heironimus

Today I finished reading “Missionary Stories With the Millers”, the last book in the “Miller Family” series to my siblings. This book is unique among the five in the series in that, instead of being a collectio of stories about the Miller family, it’s a collection of stories about missionaries that the Miller children’s mother tells them every night. There are some stories about very well known missionaries, such as Jim Eliot, Amy Carmichael and Hudson Taylor, as well as some equally good stories about  lesser known missionaries and the trials that they have gone through by the grace of God. I would highly reccomend this book to anyone who would like to get a little “sample” of many different missionaries lives, and I would give it a solid 5 out of 5 stars!

“Missionary Stories With the Millers” is available for purchase at Amazon.com