Harrodsburg, KY

Jane and I spent the weekend in Harrodsburg, KY celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary. It was Jane's turn to plan the trip this year and we stayed at the lovely Beaumont Inn.



In the 1800's, the inn was a school for young ladies. It was converted to an inn in 1919. Here is the main inn.



Our room was actually in the Goddard House across the road.



Other guests stayed at the Greystone House.



We enjoyed a delicious meal at the Old Owl Tavern connected to the inn.

We also enjoyed looking at the majestic homes. Many of them were sprawling plantations....

Others were elegant town houses.

We also enjoyed some much needed quality time together.

Kentucky was great. I'm already planning our trip for next year!

One Trillion

Monday's w/ Michael

I recently read an article that said that for the first 3 quarters of 2010, the federal government has spent one trillion dollars more than it has taken in. A one trillion dollar loss in nine months. A trillion...that's a lot. That's a 1 with a dozen 0's behind it. $1,000,000,000,000

The article went on to show some of the things you could buy with a trillion dollars. Here are some of my favorites.

- 40,816,326 new cars. The 2010 Volkswagen Jetta TDI has a sticker price of around $24,500.

- 140 billion hours of work (at $7.25/hour). That's enough hours to employ the entire state of Kansas (man, woman & child) for the next 23 years!

- 1.33 trillion chocolate bars. At 75 cents a piece you could buy enough 1.55 oz Hershey's bars to equal the weight of 150,000 Boeing 747-400's.

- $15.5 billion in interest on a one year CD at 1.55% interest.

- Lebron James...for 50,000 years. Lebron recently signed a new contract with the Miami Heat. Assuming he makes $20,000,000 each year, a trillion dollars would cover his salary for the next 50 millennia.

You could do a lot with a trillion dollars. But there is a lot you can't do. There are over 143 million orphans in the world today. Assuming each adoption costs $20,000, a trillion dollars would only cover the adoption expenses for 50,000,000 (just over 1/3 of all the orphans). One trillion dollars would still leave 93,000,000 children without their forever families. Fifty thousand Lebron James' would still leave 93,000,000 children in orphanages, foster care or on the streets.

I know those numbers are staggering and the task ahead seems daunting. But the orphans don't need 50,000,000 Lebron James'. They aren't relying on the entire state of Kansas. They only need YOU. If you and I vow to help them, I know we can make a difference.

Make it a great week!

7 Wonderful Years

I wait.
Dear Lord, Thy ways
Are past finding out,
Thy love too high.
O hold me still
Beneath Thy shadow.
It is enough that Thou
Lift up the light
Of Thy Countenance
I wait-
Because I am commanded
So to do. My mind
Is filled with wonderings
My soul asks "Why?"
But then the quiet word,
"Wait thou only
Upon God."
And so, not even for the light
To show a step ahead,
But for Thee, dear Lord,
I wait.




I waited, and God gave. And He continues to give and
bless me beyond what I could have imagined. I love you
Michael John, all the days of my life!

Summer Reading Program

Jane signed our family up for the Summer Reading Program at the Library. You read 8 books over the course of 2 months. Shouldn't be that hard, right? Well, for Jane and the boys, it wasn't. But I struggled a little bit.

The first book I read was a western. I don't remember the name of the book or the author, but I flew through it. Then I took Deacon to the zoo's presentation at the Library which counted as reading 1 book. So I had 2 done with no problems. But after that, I hit a wall.

Growing up, I used to read quite a bit. But I haven't done much reading since...middle school? I have no problem reading a Sports Illustrated or picking up the latest Fantasy Baseball magazine, but to sit down and read an entire book...I just don't have the attention span for it. I think I probaby have 4 or 5 books laying around the house that I am "reading" (which being interpreted means, I have started them and will probably never finish them). Not that there is anything wrong with any of the books, I just lose interest extremely quickly. And a few weeks into the Summer Reading Program, I ran into the same problem.

The theme of the Summer Reading Program this year was "Making a Splash" (or something like that), so one of your books had to have the word "river", "water" or "fish" either in the title of the book or in the author's name. I checked out another western book with the word "river" in the title. It was brutal. I read the 1st chapter and realized I would never get through it.

By this point, Jane had probably already read 5 Francine Rivers books. Rivers...that counts as your required reading. So I came up with the brilliant idea of checking out a Francine Rivers book on tape! That way I could multi-task. It's tough to read while you are driving, but I could listen to the tape every day driving to and from work. What a great plan! The book I checked out was "As Sure As The Dawn". It was 14 tapes. It lasted 20 hours. I have an 8 minute drive to work. It wasn't nearly as easy as I thought it would be.

During this time, I read 3 books: The Code (about the unwritten rules of baseball), Glory Road (the autobiography of Coach Don Haskins (there is movie about him by the same name)), and Winterdance by Gary Paulsen (about running the Iditarod sled dog race (which has now been added to my Bucket List)). I finished Winterdance Tuesday night. The Summer Reading program ended on Friday. If you are keeping track, I had 5 done and I was almost done with the tape. I had 2 days to read 2 books.

So I went back to the carefree days of my childhood....The Hardy Boys! If you read a children's book, it has to be at least 125 pages (so unfortunately, the Berenstain Bears were not an option). Wednesday night after work, I went to the library and checked out 2 Hardy Boys books. I didn't spend much time searching for the 2 shortest, I just made sure they were over 125 pages. One was around 130 and the other was around 178. I started with the longer book. Wednesday night before bed, I read 90 pages. Thursday morning, before work, I finished the first book. By this point, I had also finished listening to the tapes. So I had 1 book left and less than 1 day to read it. (I'm sure you all are sitting on the edge of your seats by now. Can he do it? The suspense is probably killing you.) I read the 2nd book, all 130 pages, before I went to bed Thursday night. Hooray, I conquered the Summer Reading Program!

Friday after work, I went to the library to turn in my form and pick up my prize. I got there around 5:45...15 minutes before they closed and the Summer Reading Program was over. I turned in my form and was awarded 2 $1 coupons to the library (which I will probably use to pay my late fees that I accrued during this time) and a free book (which I will probably never read).

But at least I now am prepared for the Winter Reading program. I will check out a book on tape that meets the "required reading" requirements and ...7 Hardy Boys books!

Make it a great week!