Aunt Mar celebrates her birthday today! Happy birthday to you Aunt Mar!
Spring is officially here, though it has felt like spring for weeks now. There's so much in bloom right now our pollen counts are through the roof. I’ve already had to mow the yard once. It's just strange to see this knowing we normally have the potential for a killing frost for another three weeks or so.
CLUB 180. Last week was our spring break and we decided to take a quick visit to Club 180 in Cumberland, Kentucky. We left on the first Saturday of our break (the 10th) and returned on Monday (the 12th).
Cumberland is an old coal mining town with very few active mines today. Poverty is the rule there. Terry and Angie Burkeen operate Club 180 as a ministry to help kids turn their lives around. Their ministry is in an old furniture store which they purchased in 2007. You can learn more about the ministry by visiting their website at http://club180ministry.com/.
Jenna and I first went to Club 180 as part of a church mission trip back in 2008. We had a large team go that year and worked on several projects. I set up several computers for their after school tutoring program. Ben and I returned the next summer as part of another mission team. They had gotten broadband internet at the club by then and I set up their network and got their lab online.
A recent newsletter from the Burkeens prompted me to ask how their lab was holding up. One thing led to another and next thing I knew we were heading up there. We had a great time visiting with the Burkeens, doing some work for them, and visiting Kingdom Come State Park. For a short trip it was probably one of the most relaxing trips I've been on in quite a while even though we went up there to work.
Club 180 recently received a donation on six computers. Terry asked if I could get them ready for his computer lab. Due to some technical reasons I was unable to do the job there so I've brought one home to work on it (the rest will hitch a ride with someone who makes regular trips with items donated to ministries there). My goal is to max out these units with new memory, load them with Windows 7 and Microsoft Office, and get new monitors for them. If anyone would like to help me do this please let me know.
SPRING CLEANING. The rest of our spring break we spent at home doing some spring cleaning around the house as well as getting Pauline’s old house ready for new renters. We didn't get as much done as we would have liked, but we did mix in some family fun. The boys had friends over to play on two different afternoons and Jenna spent time with her best friend, Mackenzie. We saw some movies together as a family (one in the theater, the rest were Netflix rentals), and we played some games together. Nate finally won a game of Settlers of Catan (his favorite) and I wish I had videoed his victory dance.
We also took Aunt Mar out to eat in Portland. It was the first time she's been out in several months and I think she really enjoyed it. We went to the 109 Diner in Portland which has really good food.
A DREAM COME TRUE. I have wanted to build a shop for most of my adult life--nothing big--just a place where I can put some tools and build some projects like the picnic table I built last summer. My dream is finally coming true.
Last week I picked up a building permit for a 20' x 30' pole barn. Construction began yesterday and now I have a skeleton of a building in the field beside my house. I am so excited to have some place larger than the closet under our stairs to store my tools and closer than Aunt Mar's garage to work from. I have so many ideas swimming in my head right now that I don't know what I'll do first, but I know I'm going to have fun. I’m leaving the inside of the building unfinished for now so that I can design and build the storage and work areas I have in mind. Vicki is worried that she and the kids never see me again.
Joe
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Spring in the Air
The mild winter is drawing to a close. The kids are coming around to the sad reality that we will only have one snow day this year. At least we get next week off for spring break. My allergies are getting a head start already. I think this is the first time I've seen buttercups bloom before the crocus, and I'm almost positive I've never seen the pear and dogwood trees start to bud and bloom this early.
PRE-REGISTRATION. I mentioned a few weeks ago that it's time to register Jenna for her freshman classes. Jenna gave up her dreams of having a bakery long ago, but she has really given a lot of thought to both teaching and nursing.
Signing up for high school classes at East Robertson today is a lot different than it was when I was in school. There are so many choices now. (The choices I had for electives as a freshman were Typing, Agriculture, and Home Economics. The typing classes were on typewriters, not computers.) Nowadays the kids do something similar to declaring a major in collage. Jenna decided to pursue two programs of study for her electives, one geared toward health science and another focusing on children and families. If she sticks with this all four years she'll have a rigorous high school curriculum.
TENNIS. Jenna has also decided to try out for the tennis team. She's never played tennis before, but I think the coach was looking for potential without having to fight bad habits.
Jenna practices every afternoon after school now. This will be a big adjustment for the boys as well as Mom and Aunt Mar since Jenna won't be riding the bus home from school for several weeks. The team plays something like 15 matches in the 5 weeks after spring break. We don’t know if Jenna will get to play since the team is large and she’s a new player, but she might if East faces another large team.
END OF BASKETBALL. Our basketball season is officially over. The boys didn't pull off a winning season, but their last game was a good match. Jenna's team, on the other hand, won a hard fought final game. It was a good way to end her Upward career.
OFF TO THE RACES. We've had another round of pine car races this year. It started a a couple of weeks ago (Wednesday the 22nd) with our Awana Grand Prix. We had about 70 kids racing that night. Nate said he got 8th place in this race. We had several technical difficulties so I was just glad to survive the night.
The next race was the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby a couple of Mondays ago (the 27th). The guy who had supplied the track for several years is no longer part of the pack (his son aged out) so I brought our track from church. I was able to iron out all the technical problems by this race and it went very smoothly. We had about 40 cars race that night.
The boys made different cars for this race. Nate's car got 2nd place. Ben wanted a formula one style car and I got a little close next to one of the axle slots. Just before we checked his car in we noticed the wood had split near one of the rear wheels causing it to pull to one side. We repaired it, but the area was very week. His car wound up getting 10th place. I thought this was a respectable finish considering what happened.
Last Saturday was the county-wide RA race. We took our track on the road again for this race and had 110-120 racers. The boys’ Awana cars were used in this race. Neither of the boys’ cars placed in the top eight for the run off race.
Joe
PRE-REGISTRATION. I mentioned a few weeks ago that it's time to register Jenna for her freshman classes. Jenna gave up her dreams of having a bakery long ago, but she has really given a lot of thought to both teaching and nursing.
Signing up for high school classes at East Robertson today is a lot different than it was when I was in school. There are so many choices now. (The choices I had for electives as a freshman were Typing, Agriculture, and Home Economics. The typing classes were on typewriters, not computers.) Nowadays the kids do something similar to declaring a major in collage. Jenna decided to pursue two programs of study for her electives, one geared toward health science and another focusing on children and families. If she sticks with this all four years she'll have a rigorous high school curriculum.
TENNIS. Jenna has also decided to try out for the tennis team. She's never played tennis before, but I think the coach was looking for potential without having to fight bad habits.
Jenna practices every afternoon after school now. This will be a big adjustment for the boys as well as Mom and Aunt Mar since Jenna won't be riding the bus home from school for several weeks. The team plays something like 15 matches in the 5 weeks after spring break. We don’t know if Jenna will get to play since the team is large and she’s a new player, but she might if East faces another large team.
END OF BASKETBALL. Our basketball season is officially over. The boys didn't pull off a winning season, but their last game was a good match. Jenna's team, on the other hand, won a hard fought final game. It was a good way to end her Upward career.
OFF TO THE RACES. We've had another round of pine car races this year. It started a a couple of weeks ago (Wednesday the 22nd) with our Awana Grand Prix. We had about 70 kids racing that night. Nate said he got 8th place in this race. We had several technical difficulties so I was just glad to survive the night.
The next race was the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby a couple of Mondays ago (the 27th). The guy who had supplied the track for several years is no longer part of the pack (his son aged out) so I brought our track from church. I was able to iron out all the technical problems by this race and it went very smoothly. We had about 40 cars race that night.
The boys made different cars for this race. Nate's car got 2nd place. Ben wanted a formula one style car and I got a little close next to one of the axle slots. Just before we checked his car in we noticed the wood had split near one of the rear wheels causing it to pull to one side. We repaired it, but the area was very week. His car wound up getting 10th place. I thought this was a respectable finish considering what happened.
Last Saturday was the county-wide RA race. We took our track on the road again for this race and had 110-120 racers. The boys’ Awana cars were used in this race. Neither of the boys’ cars placed in the top eight for the run off race.
Joe
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Celebrating Heroes
When I was a boy the only way I had to know anything about my father's service in World War II was from books we bought about B-29s. One picture that features prominently in several of the books I own is of a left gunner that is dangling outside of his plane. The captions for this picture and accompanying narrative tells this happened 30,000 feet above Nagoya, Japan, on January 3, 1945. The left gunner's blister of the "American Maid" was hit and Sgt. James Krantz was blown outside of the plane where he dangled for 15 minutes without oxygen. He was held to his plane by a harness he had made for himself after seeing the top gunner's blister shot out on the previous mission.
Fast forward to December 2003. A few days after Christmas I come home and find a section of the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle in my back door. My cousin Jackie had put it there. The paper featured an article of two Clarksville veterans. One of those men was Sgt. Krantz. I had seen the picture for years and never knew the man in the picture lived less than an hour a way for my entire life. I looked up his phone number and called him up. He invited me to come by his house for a visit which I did on New Year's Eve. He was the first B-29 veteran I had knowingly met in my life.
From my first visit with Mr. and Mrs. Krantz I knew I had met two extraordinary people. A friendship developed. It wasn't long before I took Vicki and the kids to meet them. Vicki was impressed as well. Mr. Krantz and I kept in touch. He encouraged me to go to the 73rd Bomb Wing reunions where he introduced me to other veterans who have become dear friends over the years. Mr. Krantz came out to speak to students at East Robertson High School twice on my invitation.
I got an email Tuesday from Mr. Krantz's daughter, Cathy, telling me that He had passed away the previous evening. Vicki and I went to the funeral on Friday. I am sad, but I know his health had been failing. He and Mrs. Krantz had recently celebrated their 70th anniversary. He also leaves behind 5 children, 12 grandchildren, and 22 great grandchildren. More importantly, Mr. Krantz leaves behind a legacy for his family and all who had the pleasure of meeting him.
Mr. Krantz loved to tell about his experiences in the war, but he told his story with such humility you knew that while the experiences were life changing he didn't define his entire life by them. His life, as you would hear early in your conversation with him, was defined by his relationship with Jesus Christ. Everything about Mr. and Mrs. Krantz pointed to their love for and faith in God.
Vicki and I were reflecting on this as we drove to the funeral. We were both captivated from the moment we met them. This was because when you met them you know, right from the start, you are loved and accepted just as you are. They shared a gift of celebrating people and making you feel like you are the most important person in the world. They always seemed to have room to love more. From the first meetings Vicki and I both came away saying, "Wow! We want to be like them."
Mr. and Mrs. Krantz loved to go to the 73rd Bomb Wing reunions. Their love for others allowed them to play a special role there as many legacy members like myself come to learn answers to questions that have been unanswered for far too long. Their genuine tenderness has helped these people heal and have closure for pain they have dealt with for decades in many cases.
I think what makes Mr. and Mrs. Krantz so special is that they got what is truly important in life. Someone once asked Jesus what is the greatest commandment in all the Bible. Quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5 Jesus replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." And then He continued with the second greatest commandment by quoting Leviticus 19:18, "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Mr. and Mrs. Krantz understood this. They didn't have to work at obeying these commandments, expressing them just came naturally. These two commandments, which are central to everything else in the Bible, are simply part of the fabric of who James and Mildred Krantz are. Mr. Krantz may be a war hero, but his true heroism lies in how he lived his life for God.
Jackie, that newspaper you stuck in my door is one of the best gifts I've ever received. I wish I could have gotten to Clarksville to visit more often, but at least I got to meet a very special man who touched me at a deep level. When I took the National Teachers Exam some twenty years ago I almost flunked the writing portion of the test. This was because I was asked to write an essay about my hero. I had no hero at that time and found it difficult to write the required essay. I would not have the same difficulty today.
Joe
Fast forward to December 2003. A few days after Christmas I come home and find a section of the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle in my back door. My cousin Jackie had put it there. The paper featured an article of two Clarksville veterans. One of those men was Sgt. Krantz. I had seen the picture for years and never knew the man in the picture lived less than an hour a way for my entire life. I looked up his phone number and called him up. He invited me to come by his house for a visit which I did on New Year's Eve. He was the first B-29 veteran I had knowingly met in my life.
From my first visit with Mr. and Mrs. Krantz I knew I had met two extraordinary people. A friendship developed. It wasn't long before I took Vicki and the kids to meet them. Vicki was impressed as well. Mr. Krantz and I kept in touch. He encouraged me to go to the 73rd Bomb Wing reunions where he introduced me to other veterans who have become dear friends over the years. Mr. Krantz came out to speak to students at East Robertson High School twice on my invitation.
I got an email Tuesday from Mr. Krantz's daughter, Cathy, telling me that He had passed away the previous evening. Vicki and I went to the funeral on Friday. I am sad, but I know his health had been failing. He and Mrs. Krantz had recently celebrated their 70th anniversary. He also leaves behind 5 children, 12 grandchildren, and 22 great grandchildren. More importantly, Mr. Krantz leaves behind a legacy for his family and all who had the pleasure of meeting him.
Mr. Krantz loved to tell about his experiences in the war, but he told his story with such humility you knew that while the experiences were life changing he didn't define his entire life by them. His life, as you would hear early in your conversation with him, was defined by his relationship with Jesus Christ. Everything about Mr. and Mrs. Krantz pointed to their love for and faith in God.
Vicki and I were reflecting on this as we drove to the funeral. We were both captivated from the moment we met them. This was because when you met them you know, right from the start, you are loved and accepted just as you are. They shared a gift of celebrating people and making you feel like you are the most important person in the world. They always seemed to have room to love more. From the first meetings Vicki and I both came away saying, "Wow! We want to be like them."
Mr. and Mrs. Krantz loved to go to the 73rd Bomb Wing reunions. Their love for others allowed them to play a special role there as many legacy members like myself come to learn answers to questions that have been unanswered for far too long. Their genuine tenderness has helped these people heal and have closure for pain they have dealt with for decades in many cases.
I think what makes Mr. and Mrs. Krantz so special is that they got what is truly important in life. Someone once asked Jesus what is the greatest commandment in all the Bible. Quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5 Jesus replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." And then He continued with the second greatest commandment by quoting Leviticus 19:18, "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Mr. and Mrs. Krantz understood this. They didn't have to work at obeying these commandments, expressing them just came naturally. These two commandments, which are central to everything else in the Bible, are simply part of the fabric of who James and Mildred Krantz are. Mr. Krantz may be a war hero, but his true heroism lies in how he lived his life for God.
Jackie, that newspaper you stuck in my door is one of the best gifts I've ever received. I wish I could have gotten to Clarksville to visit more often, but at least I got to meet a very special man who touched me at a deep level. When I took the National Teachers Exam some twenty years ago I almost flunked the writing portion of the test. This was because I was asked to write an essay about my hero. I had no hero at that time and found it difficult to write the required essay. I would not have the same difficulty today.
Joe
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