Here are some carvings I finished earlier this summer but could not show you then because they were both gifts.

This first one was of a old Russian lady I seen in a newspaper article, I called it "Babushka", Russian for grandmother. It was a gift to my wife's sister's family, who has two adopted girls from Russia.





The other was for my wife's other sister's family, her husband has firefighter ties.




They were fun to do, and fun to give away. I've got some great in-laws and it's fun surprising them.

The Sissies

Dateline 12/20/08, Allendale Michigan. A "severe" winter storm has hit the state leaving us all reeling and stranded in its wake. HA, sissies, look at me in the picture the snow is not even up to my knees, and they call that a storm?

This is going to date me, but I remember the winter of '77, now that was a snow storm. It was a total white out for three days solid, not man nor beast was out in that blow. Ok, so there was some one out; my dad, a co-worker and myself.

You see, my dad was one of those people that believed that if it was a work day it was our responsibility to make it to work, so off we went. The other guy, Bob G., picked us up in his truck and we headed for Hudsonville, at a crawl. M-45 was bad enough but when we got to 48th Ave. the road was completely drifted over, but did that stop us, shoot no we're from Michigan and it's only snow! Now 48th runs north and south and had some large open fields, which made those stretches of road even worse and one of these spots was just before the town of Bauer and that's where we got stuck, right out in the open blizzard. We piled out of the truck and with Dad and me pushing we managed to get moving again, only to break the fan belt, which was kind of a good thing because we had to hang out by a warm fire while the truck was fixed. Oh, we did make it to work that day, a little late, but we made it.

So anyway, the weather people these days seem to be always shouting doom and gloom when a storm heads our way but remember, it can always be worse, and after all we live in Michigan we can take it!

Ho Ho Ho!

I just finished a new carving that I wanted to share with you. Each year I try to do a new Santa, some of them are my own ideas and some are patterns from carving magazines. The one I carved this year is a pattern by Mark Gargac I got in Woodcarving Illustrated. I started with his basic idea and tweaked it to mark it my own. He was a fun one to do and I gained some experience carving beards, hope you like him.



I have some of my Santa carving at Season's Flowers on Chicago Drive in Grandville, this guy is headed there today.

Epiphany

After being on this earth for fifty years I have come to realize what I can and can't do. It has taken a lot of trial and error but there are certain jobs around the house I simply can't do. God has gifted me with me with many talents but one that is not on the list is car mechanic.

Lord knows I've tried, I've fumbled through replacing water pumps and starters, head gaskets, brake pads, thermostats and numerous other parts I couldn't point out on a drawing, only to ask myself, "what am I doing?" Every once in a while someone comes in the store where I work needing help and it soon becomes obvious they have no clue what they are doing and should pay to have someone do the work for them. That's me and cars! The other day the "check engine oil" light came on in my truck,"oops that's not good", I thought, but at the same time I'm thinking "oh no, more car work". As I lay there under the truck the next day it came to me, this is as in depth as I want to get with automobiles, from now on changing oil is as far as it goes, period.

Oh yea, one more thing, my truck has been smelling hot up front, is that bad?

Word

What is it about the English language that some words seem to have more meaning than others? I was just thinking that this Saturday is November 1st, October sounds like a fall month but the name November has connotations of lateness, like the year is almost done, and it just sounds cold.

And that got me to thinking are there other words that may have similar connotations? I suppose your own personal history comes into play in a way, for example "home" for me is a warm comforting word, but I had a good upbringing, for others it may be different. Does all this make sense to you or am I just babbling?

Other words that came to mind-
vacation
Sunday
thunder
winter
mountain
race

If this makes sense to you see what you can add.

Point of Change

Two weeks ago my wife and I went on a two day color tour up the coast of Michigan. We had planned the trip back in the middle of the summer and tried to guess when the color would be best, as it worked out we were a little off. The weather did not cooperate and the trees were slow in changing, we did see some pretty trees but it was sporadic. At first I was a little bummed we had done all that planning only to see so little color, but the more I thought about it I realized maybe we were seeing something even more special, "The Point of Change".

You see, anyone can go out in the fall and see all the nice color, of course you have to be in the right part of the country, but how often do you get to see the time at which the change is actually taking place? A plant grows in your garden and you marvel at the pretty flowers, but have you ever seen it when the seed first breaks free of the soil and sends a shoot in the air, that's what I'm talking about, "The Point of Change". Mari and I were witnessing that point on our color tour and it left an impression on me.

I have always been in awe of God's handiwork in painting the Fall landscape, science can explain how it happens but only God can make it happen! As we drove along admiring the changing scenery it made me think about the point of change God can makes in our lives too.

You see, all who believe in Jesus as their savior were at one time like the green trees, blending in with the world around them. Then God, "who chose us in him before the creation of the world" (Eph. 1:4), touched our hearts, our "Point of Change", and we became the trees that were turning color. We do not change all at once but gradually over time, and the change in our lives is not to draw attention to ourselves but to bring glory to God who brought about that change.

As I looked at the trees I wondered, what color am I, how far along is my color, do I stand out? I have made it a point to be more intentional about my spiritual life and let my colors show!

How about you, are you bringing the glorious color of Jesus to the world around you, or are you just blending in? Are you still green? Get a Bible and read the book of John and ask God to touch your heart too.

People still do that?

I had this past week off from work and one of the things I wanted to get done was to split and stack a pile of wood I had cut last summer. Now working at a hardware store, and being a tool junkie, one would think I would rent the latest and greatest powered wood splitter, a pull behind with a small diesel motor able to snap a whole tree in one pass. But no, something in my head said to do it the "old fashion" way, (ok, maybe I'm a little bit of a tight wad), so here's what I used.

Yea, I hear what your thinking, "people still do that?" As I got the axe out I was thinking the same thing, "what am I doing, this is going to hurt later, am I to old for this?" But I have to tell you, once I got started it was fun! Sure it took a few swings to get the hang of hitting the metal to wood and not wood handle to wood but I soon had split wood flying every which way. It was very tiring, but it took me back to an earlier time when men needed to do this, when men earned a living by the sweat of their brow...and it made me feel good.

So here's the finished pile, not a lot of firewood but enough to keep the wood shop warm for a winter. And for you guy out there that are thinking, "that's not a splitting axe!" I know, but my last one broke and this was on clearance for less than a new handle, plus it looks cool!