Off the Top

After a conversation about the program with my son’s gym teacher, Mr. F, I had the opportunity to stop in and observe B’s class shooting archery after school.  I was impressed by the structure of the program and how much the boys and girls had learned.  The class followed the National Archery in Schools Program, so there was a proper emphasis on safety.  The instructor had three different whistle commands.  Two whistles meant “take your position on the shooting line and rest your bows on your toes.”  One whistle meant “shoot.”  Three whistles meant “return your bows and get your arrows.”  A few times, a student slipped up and was quickly reminded, but almost every boy followed the commands instinctively.

Mr. F said I should take a few shots, and A said I should borrow his bow, but the other boys said A’s bow did not work as well.  I chose it anyway.  On two whistles, I approached the line and reached for an arrow, only to be reminded by Mr. F that I must wait for the single whistle.  I grimaced and replaced my arrow.  On the single whistle, I put three arrows in the bulls eye and A was quick to point out that “it’s the archer not the bow!”

The great part about archery is that anyone can do it.  I know several of B’s classmates, so I was stoked to see them shoot.  There were varying degrees of ability, but I was told they all had improved and they all appeared to enjoy it.  Thanks Mr. F!

B demonstrates fantastic form on the range.

During the last few years I have been discovering how much fun being an uncle can be.  These girls are the best!

We have three little princesses!

Question: When you are refilling your super-fizzy Lemon Coke Zero at the local Qdoba’s newfangled pop machine that can mix any one of 200 flavor combinations, what do you say to the two customers behind you?

Answer: “Well, I was waiting for the foam to subside and my flavor selection timed out.”

Here is what a four-year-old thinks; “if I say I am hungry, dad will say it is o.k. for me to have some gummy vitamins.”  The conversation goes like this.

“I want vitamins.”

“But you already had your vitamins for today.”

With a moderate whine, “But dad, I’m hungry!”

“I understand.  How about an apple.”

“No, I want vitamins.  I’m hungry.”

For a few different reasons, we could say that sports are an important part of life.  Our recent post about the Packers tells about one reason — to wit, the importance of putting the team and the mission before yourself.  In the media recently, we have seen three examples of another of those reasons — to wit, athletes sometimes show us astounding character in their efforts on and off the field:

• Jeremy Lin was interviewed on 60 minutes about how he overcame racial prejudice to become an NBA star.
• R. A. Dickey was also interviewed on 60 minutes about how he overcame sexual abuse, a failing marriage, and a failing pitching career to become the first knuckleballer to with the Cy Young award and more importantly, to have a restored marriage.
• Jackie Robinson was featured in 42, a film about his fight against overwhelming racial prejudice to become an MLB star.

These are the kind of stories that can give us and our children a real vision for what a life well-lived looks like, a vision for the right way to overcome various forms of adversity.  Each of these men overcame a different obstacle, but each of them has or had the same trust in Jesus Christ, especially through the roughest spots.  In the media portrayals this is often ignored, but in each case we note that these men are/were characterized by the sweet, quiet confidence that is the outworking of faith a sovereign God.

Recently, someone asked who my favourite Packers player is.  I realized that I have not picked out any one player to respect more than the others and that Mike McCarthy has apparently done a fantastic job of creating a team environment where each player takes responsibility for his own actions, in public does not criticize others on the team, and is focused on what he can do to make the team win.  During this last season, I thought that the wide receiver corps was the prime example.  Each of those guys (Driver, Jennings, Jones, Nelson) was a class act, displayed character at all times, gave credit to others when things went well, and took blame when things went poorly.  And the quarterback (Rodgers) did the same.  Now that Driver has retired and Jennings has moved to the Vikings, we have hope (based on history and continuity) that this trend will continue.

Kudos to the Packers, and the wide receiver corps of the 2012 season gets the nod for favourite player.

Recombobulation?  It is not in the dictionary.  The word, however, strategically used by somebody in the management of the Milwaukee General Mitchell International Airport, provided us with a chuckle last weekend.   As we completed the TSA security checks, we were comforted by the sign indicating that we were at the “Recombobulation Area” and would be able to sit down, gather our belongings, compose our thoughts, and then move on to our boarding gate.

A few weeks ago, K recalled the brat dog and said it was time to invent another sandwich.  At the moment, I didn’t feel like inventing a sandwich, so I said the inspiration would come precisely at our time of need.  Last week, we produced what we think is a unique sandwich, named it the Oshkosh cheesesteak, and defined it like so: venison steak, cheddar cheese, fried onions, and fried bell peppers on wheat bread, grilled.  It was delicious!

The Oshkosh cheesesteak is quick, easy, and savory!

Just the other night K’s school held its “Holiday Concert.”  I proposed an informal over/under bet.  Which would be greater, the number of unexpurgated Christmas Carols or the number of Hanukkah songs?  While I thought myself to be clever, the question was moot.  The single “Hanukkah” song was only tangentially related to the holiday — simply stating that “Shalom Aleikhem” means “peace to you” — and the “Christmas” songs were two: Jolly Old St. Nicholas and Here We Come a-Wassailing (Caroling).  So the Christmas songs would have won the day, if only technically, but hark!  The latter carol has been altered!  Now you are saying to yourself, “Come on.  A real live communist could barely object to that song.”  I concur.  Leave it to your local public school choir teacher, however, to find something objectionable.  Here is the chorus to Here We Come a-Wassailing:

Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too;
And God bless you and send you a Happy New Year
And God send you a Happy New Year.

And here are the last two lines as sung by the second-graders:

And we wish you and send you a Happy New Year
And we wish you a Happy New Year.

Thumbing through some old photographs, I saw one that reminded me of a picture from my childhood, so I fired off an epistle to Mom and in short order I had a digital copy of the original.  Both of these pictures were taken at Bay Beach, Green Bay.  One was taken  of me and my son, ten years ago; the other was taken of me and my dad, 35 years ago.