It's been under a week--weird, ain't it?

Well, this has been a very history-minded past few days. I found a book lying around called "Grant Comes East." Finding the title intriguing, I picked it up and started reading.

I'm starting to get into this alternate history more and more, and this is right up that alley. It's the second book in a series. As you might guess by what I've said, it's a "what if" of the Civil War. Basically, Lee won at Gettysburg and then also soundly defeated the Army of the Potomac (again) at Union Mills. This is all in the first book of the series, which I haven't read yet. Yeah, I read the second before the first. Oh well.

The book was really good, overall. Very little language, no sexual anything at all, and a fast-paced read. It mainly focuses on the leaders (mostly military, but some political)--Lee, Longstreet, and Stuart on the one side, Lincoln, Grant, and Sickle on the other. It does a very good job of showing Lee's faith, except at one point, at which he used obscenity to get the attention of his staff and get them focused. I was not happy at that point.

It's a very intriguing read. The situations were very plausible, at least based on my understanding. Several characters were rather interesting studies as well, especially Lee. Personally, I'd recommend this book to most people. I really need to read the first one, though. Thankfully, the library has it. :)

Because of all this, I decided to watch a movie tonight. One that I hadn't seen in years. Gods and Generals. At about 11, I was only halfway through it, so I decided I'd stop for the night. However, I'd already been impressed yet again by Jackson's character. He depended utterly on the Lord for strength and protection. As he said in response to a question from one of his staff officers as to why he was so calm in battle, he replied "Captain, my religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it may overtake me ... That is the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave."

What a testimony for Christ. He sat on his horse, just watching the enemy troops advance, shot plowing up around him. I pray that, if indeed it is God's will for me to be in the Army after college, that I can be as strong a witness as he was.

Well, I'll quickly update you all on everything else going on recently. Church was quite good as normal. Please be praying, though, for more people. We would like to have more in the local area, and we really could use some more elders and deacons.

School's been all right. We're still behind, but we'll finish eventually. I don't remember if I'd said this before or not, but I've made Finalist in the National Merit Scholarship Competition. No money out of it (yet), but this means that, as long as I keep the grades up, I'll get free tuition at Geneva! :)

Shoveling has become a daily activity, or nearly so. The snow has been coming about once a day, putting down anywhere from two to five additional inches. It's been great for working out, at least. :)

Well, that's it for right now. I'm going to a Pinewood Derby on Saturday--Cub Scout event where they race wood cars (only the little ones--about six inches long). Should be fun. If I get the chance, I'll get pictures. Good night everyone!

Out of jail!

Well, I'm out. It was an interesting experience...

Seriously, it was a visit for a merit badge for Scouts. I was there, touring, along with a couple of other guys from the troop, for about an hour. It was really an interesting experience. I'm rather glad that, unlike a few guys in there, I'm not so familiar with being in jail that I know the daily routine by heart. Some of them have been in there for several years, not having fresh air for a few months at a time. Phew. Sin is a horrible thing, ain't it?

Well, since then, I've been busy. Not busy enough to skip a blog post--I just wanted to keep you all hanging. :P

School's been going well. Since last week we did nothing, we've been trying to make a comeback. We've succeeded, mostly. I think we're on track for this week, so we only added another week to the behindness. Oh well. We'll get done eventually. I had one really good math test, and one not so good physics test. They averaged out. :P

I had the Merit Badge Trail Drive today. I assisted with the Aviation merit badge class, feeling kinda weird correcting the two adult counselors. They both had lots of experience with aircraft, but mainly on the ground, so they'd asked me to help correct any mistakes they made. I did so, but it felt strange. The other two classes (I was a mere participant in Energy and Radio, the other two classes) went well, and I had fun. Learned some things, too. :)

Well, I'd reserved a plane out at the airport for Monday morning, and had planned to have Milkdud go up with me. However, when I talked to him this morning, he didn't think it would work, so, since the weather today was so nice, we worked it out... He and I went up this evening/late afternoon. The weather was the nicest I'd had in about a month. Almost no winds, almost no clouds... it was wonderful. Hopefully, I'll have pictures sooner or later.

It's been a long day. Great day, but long. Good night everyone, and have a great Lord's Day!

Going to jail this morning... I'll let everyone know what's going on when I get back.

We're back.

As the title says...



Basically, Nathaniel had another seizure. It wasn't one of the major ones. He's doing fine now.

After the seizure occured, he went to a local hospital's emergency room for a while. After some testing, he was released. Other than the fact that he's in no immediate danger, that's about all we know. Hopefully, the neurologist will be able to shed some more light on the situation.

We got out there around 2000 on Saturday evening. After talking with Nathaniel a while, Mom and Dad went up to Rose Point (next county north) to stay with my grandpa, while I got to stay at Geneva. Since Nathaniel had permission to violate the fire code for a night, we got a spare mattress from the across-the-hall neighbor (who doesn't have a roommate) and I slept on that, in the middle of the floor. :)

That evening was really nice, since we got to hang out with some Indiana friends. Hansons from Southside were out. Actually, it was they who helped out a ton with Nathaniel--they'd noticed his having the seizure, and they took him out to the hospital, and even brought him back! Thanks!

Anyway, we got to hang out with them and Nathaniel's roommate, Luke Dinkledine, for a couple hours. It was really great.

Well, Sabbath was good (as normal). Since we were in PA, we all went to Eastvale RPC, Nathaniel's home congregation when he's at school. That was really good--everyone there is always great to talk to, and, more importantly, the service (since it was through Christ) was glorifying to God, and the sermon was quite edifying. That evening, since they don't have an evening service, we attended the Bible study, which was also quite excellent.

Sabbath night, I stayed across the hall from Nathaniel, since nobody wanted the fire code broken much. The guy whose room I stayed with is a pretty good friend, one that I've known for several months (through Nathaniel, of course), so we had a nice time. However, I woke up the next morning with... *drum roll*

THE FLU!!!!

Thankfully, it didn't hit too quickly. Mom and Dad also thought they had it, although lighter, so we decided to come home. The trip seemed to take forever, but we got back safely.

Tuesday was really bad for me. High fever and lots of acheing all day long. Not fun.

Yesterday, and continuing into today, I've been recovering. I still have this cough that's really annoying. However, it's had the benefit of getting me used to Robitussin. I really don't like that stuff, but it's getting more bearable.

That's our news. One last thing--I just did some flying on my flight simulator here on the computer. I flew a precision instrument approach into Dayton International Airport while in bad weather. Basically, without looking at anything but stuff on the instrument panels (except for the last little bit), I landed a plane. It was cool. Now, I wanna do some more practice of this in real life. :)

Good night all! Sorry this post is later than promised--flu slows you down a lot.

I was planning on posting today, but not about this...

We had a call earlier from Nathaniel. Sounds like he's had another seizure, not quite as intense as a couple years ago. He's at Beaver Valley Medical Center right now getting some examinations. We're leaving in a few minutes for PA. We really have no clue if it's serious or not, but, just in case, we're going out. Please be in prayer for everyone involved--Nathaniel, us, the medical personnel, etc. I'll post more when 1) I know more and 2) I get the chance.

Christ is over all.

Hey, I'm posting!

Weird, ain't it? :D

Alrighty. Things significant in the two weeks since the previous post...

Well, I've flown once. I picked up a guy from church and went up to Bowling Green. I picked up something around two hours cross-country time as Pilot in Command. I need to build up fifty total hours, and I'm sitting on around twenty. Not too bad.

I've also been working on getting checked out to rent the airport's Diamond Star. It's a four-seater, complete with what's called a "glass cockpit." The Eclipse, which I normally fly, has all the instruments in a standard dial format, sorta like a standard watch. Well, if the Eclipse is like a standard watch, the Star is a digital watch. Most all of the instrument panel is two ten-inch displays. It's pretty complex (until you figure it out), but it's really powerful. I was rather amazed the other day when I got to get in it and spend about ninety minutes just learning about it by pushing and pulling buttons. It's a bit more capable than anything I've ever used before. I can't wait to take the plane up. :)

Church has been going well. Nothing new really. The sermon series have been quite good. The psalm meditation last week was quite good. Christ is still blessing us. Please be praying, though, that we would have more people coming, both those who know Christ and those who don't.

I'm really not coming up with a ton of other stuff to be posting. I'll try to post more regularly. I know, I say that a bunch, but oh well...

Video of the post. Hold on a second. Gotta upload a video to Youtube, one that I've been needing to for a while.

OK. Nathaniel took a video of a landing when he and I flew a few weeks ago. Here's the video. It was a little bit gusty wind, so not the best landing. However, the plane survived, and he didn't mind the slightly bumpy landing. :) Here's the video.