• Fun-Factory Report
Michael LaFond and I teamed up to be involved in a Halloween Alternative program called the Fun-Factory Carnival. It was sponsored by the Community Christian Alliance Church of Northridge, CA. They featured game booths of all kinds and bounce houses and other inflatables, plus tons of candy at every stop. However, the entire event attracted nearly 1,800 guests (children, youth and adults), which has become a solid outreach program into the community.
See more of our report…
• Riddle #4, What Am I?
Riddle Me This, What am I?
I am not really what I appear…
Though my purpose is to bring good cheer.
Sometimes my heart is on my sleeve,
To help children to believe.
My main role is for…distraction,
But usually I am…the attraction.
Sometimes I’m sad, sometimes I’m glad.
But my face is never painted plaid.
You might think I am funny.
But most people pay me money.
My mother may be the only one who knows,
She can recognize me by my nose.
I am a ____________________________
Written by Barney Kinard
Submit your answer in the comment box.
Winners will be notified in the comment box.
• Looking for Clues
Another Program Series I developed for kids around the character of an Investigator, something like Sherlock Holmes. It was a study of ten stories from the Book of Acts.
The idea that held the sessions together was looking for clues. Of course, I had fun with this giant magnifying glass as I would find pre-planted clues in the audience and would humorously find them. I was “looking for clues from God’s point of view.” Each “clue” contributed to the discovery of the truth.
For more information:
• Just Being Silly
This Funny-Fun Foto happened while we were sitting in the living room at Ken’s House. He was playing with these great manipulative toys that belonged to his kids, he kept fooling around with them as we were talking, making various creative things. Then all of a sudden he put this on his head and we all laughed. I thought it was worthy of a photo to capture the fun. Warning! Having three boys can make one do silly things.
• Ken’s Fall Family Photo
Here is a new photo of Ken’s family from our trip to Baltimore this weekend. From the left we have Tennyson, Benjamin, Ken, Jennifer and Spencer.
Tennyson and Benjamin celebrated their 2nd and 5th birthdays on this trip with Nana and Papa. We had a wonderful time. The weather was cool, and the leaves were turning. We had some real quality time to share with the family. Arriving is always so special and leaving is so hard for us all. We know the way back.
• My Floral Bouquet #5
This floral bouquet was a gift presented to me from one of the children on the Island of Saaremaa off the coast of Estonia. Our team visited one of the churches there. These beautiful speckled flowers, some variation of a lily, were given to me this cute little girl. Somehow, gifted flowers always seem more special when you appreciate the thought behind them. For me to receive them from a child was almost like Jesus, Himself, gave them to me. Maybe you could say these flowers were tagged with meaning.
One of our team took this photo of the little girl who made the presentation to me…
• Confronting Change?
For a few weeks now, I have had the feeling that I was being followed. It was just a feeling, I thought. I tried to dismiss the nagging questions in my mind, but it continued. I could not really tell you what it was, but lurking in the shadows, I could faintly make out a moving object, could it be a cat?
No, I thought, it was bigger than a cat. I thought by leaving California this week I would leave this shadowy thing behind, but in Baltimore, it surfaced again. This time, it, whatever it was, became even more visible. It had spots and a tail…
As some of you know, my son, Ken, is an ardent advocate for the Mac. He is a dyed-in-the-wool Mac user for many years, and often has urged me to “get with the program.” I really did not want to change. So I hung on to my PC, after all, it was working.
After almost ten years, with the help of Karl Bastian, I got a new Mac Computer this year, last April, to be exact. Now, I love how my Mac works, better than my old PC. It has taken me awhile, but i am finally getting used to the changes. However, about the time I am getting used to the change, a new operating system for Mac has come out.
So now, Ken has been recommending that I should get one, so has my friend Karl Bastian. I have been considering it for a while, but have been relunctant to make the change. There always such a learning curve to adjust to with the new and improved upgrade. So visiting Ken opened the door. I was persuaded to go to the Apple Store this weekend to check it out. Well, after lots of my questions were answered, I decided that I would finally buy one.
Then it happened…
• Worth A Thousand Words
This recent Funny Fun Foto is priceless, I think. My wife and I are currently visiting our three grandsons Tennyson, Benjamin, and Spencer in Lutherville, MD. The oldest two are having a birthday celebration this weekend and we stopped by to share in the fun. We love a party, right?
My son Ken, and his wife Jennifer, wrote the following about this photo…
• Puppetry: Cactus Flats
This blog features my creative hand-made Indian Puppets and the Puppet Show that I created called Cactus Flats. This production was made for Laurel Pines Christian Conference and Camp program. The camp is located in the Big Bear Mountains, CA. There they had an Indian theme program, called Indian Village, complete with tepees for the children.
These latex puppets were the work of one year and were ready for their summer program. We trained the puppet team and installed this set across the end of the dining room, so after every meal there was a brief Indian theme puppet show that “set up” the teaching themes for the day. It was a lot of fun and all original work designing and creating the shows for the camp. However, the thin air at 9,000 feet would seriously affect the latex puppets…
• My Floral Bouquet #4
These are unbelievably small flowers. They are greatly magnified here. I was attracted to them because they were star shaped. I had never seen anything like them before. They were unique to me. I found these flowers on top of the Rock Church in Helsinki, Finland. If you can imagine it, an entire city block that is just a big rock. The city built all around this block. The rock was good for nothing for years and years, until a church bought to land (or I should say, the rock)…
