Christmas pictures!

WAKE UP ITS CHRISTMAS!!

Natalie likes her new Bear

Hannah sleeping with here new doll

Natalies doll, and the necklace she made for her.

"BIBLE MAN is the BESTEST BESTEST Super hero EVER, EVER!", Caleb says. He's ready to go outside and ride his bike in full Bible man gear. Ill upload some video footage of it.

Bible man is really cool. The shows are like the old 60s batman and Power Rangers combined, except He fights evil with the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.

Christmas dinner with Uncle Brad and Aunt Susan. The Green family tradition is steak and lobster tails. YUM! Angie and Susan made a great meal. Brad and I hanlded the protien.

We went to Ken and Judy's house on saturday. It was a great time, with a rousing game of rollout, and watching the "strongest man competition", because the bowl games were really lame. Natalie got her Bear from Grandma Taylor.

Grandma Taylor looking great!
My Uncle Ken reading the Christmas Story.

Christmas candy!

Yes, that is a 6 and 5 yr old with a big cup of melted chocolate!

Do you think we have enough chex mix and puppy chow??

Cookie decorating is a lot of fun for the kiddos.

December in Nebraska is always like this:)

Stocking time!

Joyful singing!

Caleb performs his role as "White Sheep" flawlessly.

Ready to perform!

What a stinker!

The girls decorating their little tree.

Date Night

Angie and I went out on a date tonight, and went to the movie,"A night at the Museum". It was a really fun movie. Your kids will really like it too. Other than a couple evolution references it is really a clean movie.

NCC Christmas Program 06

Here is the link to our Christmas program this year. In the beginning there is some boring stuff I should have edited out, and I obviously was mostly interested in my kids:).
enjoy.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3231562776353449030

The Symbols of Christmas

Stockings!

One of my family traditions has been getting surprised with our stockings filled on a random morning before Christmas. Angie and I decided today would be a good time to do that. We had a great time and the kids were surprised! Most of the stuff is little toys and CANDY.

Im figuring out how to post my home videos on the web. I have a dvd camera, so ive learned how to convert from DVD to usable formats for the web. Ill put links to the videos on the blog.

Kurt

It doesnt seem like Christmas!

We are having really mild weather this winter so far. Its 58 today, will be 59 tomorrow. Its kind of nice, but I do enjoy snow, and the crispness of winter. Im sure its coming, probably in January.
Thats all for now.
Kurt

The End of th Spear

Angie and I just watched"the End of the Spear". Wow. I have known the stories of the 5 missionaries who were martyred since I was a kid, but to watch the drama and know that it was all done from the eyewitness accounts was riviting. The unwavering faith of the men, and the n their wives and children truly inspires me. Ive been learning a lot lately about faith, and how if we know that God is telling us to do something, we should do it. It doesnt matter what common sense says. It doesnt matter what those around you say. If you are sure God is leading you, then dont let anything get in your way. Common sense says dont go back and try to reach those savages with the Gospel. Common sense says dont march around a city 7 times and expect to defeat it. Common sense says dont follow that illegitimate son of a carpenter. If God is calling us and we choose not to do what he asks, or modify his calling, we are choosing to rely on your self. We are telling God that he doesnt know what He is doing. It doesnt matter if it seems insignificant, or insurmountable.
Lord, give me sustained unwavering belief in you.

This past weekend

Saturday, the second, we finished selling the last of my parents property. It was the shop that Dad (and me for 3 years) worked as a mechanic, welder, fabricator and hot rodder. We cleaned out the last of the stuff inside saturday morning and afternoon. It was very cold and windy, and of course the heat wasnt turned on in the shop and we had the big door open a lot of the time. It was strange because it was hard to look at something that noone really wanted and just decide to throw it away, or just saying "do you want this?" talking about something that was my dads. At the same time it was a major relief to be done with the whole thing. My brother Brad and I were talking about how now we can just come to Atkinson to visit friends and family for fun, and not have all this cleanup, or paperwork, or whatever to do.

It was great because when we got done with the shop, we all went to my aunt and uncles for a great supper, and then watched the Nebraska OU big 12 championship game. We had a great time, even though the game didnt go so well for us(except for Brads wife, Susan. she is a sooner fan, and we forgive her for that, I guess).

Have you seen the nintendo wii? I think I am going to get one for christmas, "from me, to me" as Alvin the chipmunk says. Really cool.

Kurt

Thou Shalt Laugh

Angie and I Just watched a Dvd called "Thou Shalt Laugh". It is a show of 8 Christian stand up comedians, and it WAS FUNNY!!!! If you like to laugh, you need to rent this one! Good clean humor!

Im Busy

Sometimes it seems like there is no space for doing nothing. Im the kind of person that thinks I have time to fit everything in, and there is room for more. God, and my wife have been teaching me to learn how to say "no" to overcommiting myself. I have been telling customers for my head porting business that it will be 2 months before I can even start on their stuff. Not because I couldnt get the work done before then, but because Im not willing to sacrifice my family time for work anymore. God has been rearranging my priorites.

My friend Mark is going to be in town for Thanksgiving, and we are going to the Colorado/Nebraska game. College football, by the way, is the best sport. period.:)

My life with cars

Im a mechanic. I have a home business modifying cylinder heads for high performance and racing. I have always had some sort of "hot rod" to tinker on.

Its all because of my Dad. He spent a lot of time with my brother and I growing up building go karts, riding motorcycles, dune buggies, and snowmobiles. Our family went to motorsports of every imaginable kind for fun.

When my brother was 15, he and Dad bought a 69 mustang mach 1. It ran good, with a 351w and a 4 speed, but it was rusted in all the usual places. I was 12, and helped work on it as much as I could. That car began a string of projects and cars that went beyond building them for our family, to fixing them up as part of our business.

I had the opportunity to work with my dad for 3 years both as an automotive tech, and building high performance cars/hot rods. We became best friends during that time. There are quite a few cars in the Nebraska/South Dakota area that we worked on.

The Irony of it all is that my parents were killed in a car on November 11 last year. For an unknown reason the car crossed the centerline in front of three semi's. The first was able to avoid a collision, the second wasnt. At that moment both of my parents were in the presence of their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I will never forget the time spent with my best friend and father.

My current project is my dads 54 ford 2dr sedan. It will be built the way dad envisioned it: A nostialgia drag car! The best part will be when I hand each of my kids a tool and show them how to use them. Then as we are all working, Im going to tell them stories about their Grandpa and Grandma, and how they loved Christ, kids, and cars!

Kids and mud, a great combination

Socially backward???

I love it when people ask me or anyone in my family "so how is school going?", or "what school do your kids attend?". I then proudly tell them about how my wife and I are homeschooling. The reactions go from blank stares to "wow, thats amazing. I could never do that." My favorite response is when people ask me if Im worried about my kids becoming "socially backward". In many ways, I hope this is true. Why would I want my kids to act like all those little lemmings that are worried more about the latest style, or music than their education, or their church, and their relationships with family.
Reality is that stereotypes are always based on some truth. There are some homeschool people that create a ultra sheltered unhealthy environment. The problem isnt homeschooling, it is the way that they are raised in general.
My family is involved in a homeschool group with families in the Seward, NE area. Many of the kids are high school aged. Instead of spending their days in a public school where most of the time is wasted, they are able to do their studies usually half of the day. Then many of them have jobs, or apprenticeships where they are experiencing a true adult "social" environment. Many homeschooled kids graduate from highschool at a younger age than public school kids, and usually their maturity level is advanced along with that. Many people I talk to look at that as a negative!
My oldest is Hannah. She is 8, and is a natural reader, but learns math a little differently. Natalie is 6 and she is a spark plug. She learns in an entirely different way. I would venture to guess that if she were starting public school, she would struggle, and maybe some would recommend treatment for ADD. This isnt the case but a public school just cannot be expected to be able to teach every child properly.
I attended public school by the way, and turned out fine:). If you are comfortable with sending your kids to public school, thats great! Im not. What I ask from people is to not rush to judgement on someone that teaches their kids at home.
I guess thats my rant for today!!
Kurt

First Time For Everything....

I actually enjoy firsts. First steps, first bike, first car, first ticket......:) Okay, I didn't enjoy that first! This happens to be my first attempt at blogging, and it's fun so far!
Sunday afternoon I put up my first do-it-yourself storage shed. Its a 7x11 plastic unit that was really easy to put together and seems sturdy. Today I filled that thing to the brim with lawn equipment and kid equipment. The neat thing was my 6 year old Natalie's enthusiasm. She was really excited about helping me fill the shed. Im sure I could have finished much quicker if I had done it alone, but the blessing would not have been there. How many times do we say "no" to our children because of selfish reasons? I didnt necessarily feel like having a 6yr old getting in my way while I was trying to finish my project before supper. When I come home from work, I dont really feel like chasing the kids and wrestling on the floor. I really dont want to deal with the mess if I let them play in the mud. If we say "no" to these kind of things, life goes on. But in my experience, the benefits of saying yes outweigh the negatives. These are the opportunities God gives us to make a real impact in our children's lives. My wife put note above the kitchen sink that simply says, "It's not about me". How true that is. Dear Lord, help me to realize that life isnt about me. Give me a servant's heart towards my children, my spouse, and whomever I meet today. Let me be be a blessing to the people I meet today. In Jesus' name, Amen