An update on my life...

I wanted to share this earlier this week, but I didn't have time to get it up here... So here goes...

Sabbath morning we went to the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge (or WMWR for short). We had heard about a fault line that was over by Meers, a few miles away, and was said to be responsible for the presence of these mountains in the midst of an otherwise ordinary plain.Before we left, we had looked up some info about the fault on Google, and looked at the fault on Google Earth. You can see it pretty well from the air. Not so well from the ground, as we found out later, but we didn’t know at the time. Before we left, we prayed that we would learn as much as possible, and be able to have a positive experience, even if we couldn’t find the fault. So we drove down to Meers, and went to the place that we had pinpointed on Google Earth. Of course, we couldn’t see anything that resembled a fault. But we had heard there was a seismograph in the Meers general store and restaurant, so we drove a few miles over to the store to find out what we could.

From Wichita Mtns. 9-26-09

We walked in the door of this store, and we definitely were not prepared for what we saw inside.The building was over 100 years old, and had been moved twice. The walls were covered with signs, decorations, and old advertisements – kind of like a Cracker Barrel, but this was truly authentic. Apparently the main attraction is their hamburgers, which of course we weren’t interested in, but they must be pretty popular, because the line was packed up to the door, and later when we drove by again, it was out on the street.

From Wichita Mtns. 9-26-09

They did have the seismograph in the store, but we were told that it didn’t work anymore, and that they had switched to computer monitoring of the fault. I could see why, when I looked at the seismograph – very old, antiquated, the kind that has the reel of paper and a moving pen, etc.

From Wichita Mtns. 9-26-09

However, their computer didn’t look terribly new either. It was Windows 95…

From Wichita Mtns. 9-26-09

My mom asked someone from the store how to get to the fault, and she told us approximately where it was, but that it was hard to see from the road, and that it was easier to see on private property. Our hopes plummeted, but we decided to try and see what we could, as long as we were there. First, though, we went to the Refuge and ate breakfast, had worship, and hiked around. The weather was perfect. The sun was shining, a nice cool breeze was wafting across the landscape, and it was just gorgeous.

From Wichita Mtns. 9-26-09

In the afternoon, we headed out to Meers once more. We followed the roads, as we had been told, but we got to the place, and we couldn’t see a thing that looked like a fault. We passed a marker by the side of the highway, and pulled over to look at it. It was about the Indian chief for whom the pass was named. Just as we were ready to pull out, two vans passed us. My dad noticed the side of one of them said, “School of Geology and Geophysics” We couldn’t believe it!So what did we do??? We followed them, to see where they were going. After all, here they are, just miles from a major geologic feature. Surely they must be going to see it. They turned around, and pulled into a driveway of a ranch. We pulled up to the driveway too, but weren’t sure if we should follow them into it. Fortunately for us, there was a little Indian boy that just happened to be getting his mail right then. Poor little kid! He just wanted to get the mail. But we asked him if the fault was on his property. He said, “Don’t know.”
My mom asked, “So do you know anything about those vans that just pulled into your driveway?”

“Don’t know.” And he started to turn away.

“Well, can we go ask them if we can take a tour or something?”

“Umm… Sure, you can go right to that building and ask Tom.”

“Ok, thanks!”

So to the building we went. We talked to Tom, and the professor of the class, and they agreed to let us follow the class, and join their field trip. We were so excited! So we all hopped back into our vehicles, and drove the mile back to the fault. They pulled over by the side of the highway, and we followed their example. When we got out, the students were kind of looking like, “What are you doing here? You’re not part of this class…” But the professor, (who looked like a real naturalist), explained that we had permission to follow them, and that we were going to audit the class. We hopped over the fence, and walked about ¼ mile into the field, through the trees, and onto a hill. The teacher apparently thought very highly of homeschoolers, and she was very kind to us, and included us in the class (as much as possible). It was pretty neat. The lecture was actually quite interesting. She explained how the different actions of the tectonic plates could have formed the scenery we see today. Now I don’t agree with her time scale of millions of years, but the rest of what she had to say was very well put together, and informative.

From Wichita Mtns. 9-26-09

On the way home, we were talking about how amazed we were at what had just happened, and I looked out the window and saw a strange rock formation at the top of a hill. I guess when you learn about rock formations, you tend to notice more things… So we pulled over, and took a picture.

From Wichita Mtns. 9-26-09

Isn’t it amazing how much God cares for us? It was so awesome, getting these opportunities that we weren’t even expecting.

Then, to top it all off, the Seilers came to our house in the evening, stayed overnight, and spent most of the morning with us. That was fun! Even though we had planned getting to bed at 8:30, and actually got to bed at around 10:00. (Do we ever go to bed early when we’re with the Seilers?:)) Then in the morning, we had breakfast with them, and Aubrey, Mr. Seiler, and I went to USAO and took pictures for my CD cover. We took 178 pictures… Most of them were great.Thank you so much, Aubrey! (and Mr. Seiler.) We had such a good time, talking about video stuff on the way home… (surprise, surprise…)

Oh, and by the way, my CD production schedule is just a little delayed. I had hoped to have it out by the end of this month, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. I had to learn how to use my new editing software, which took some time, and also take the time to edit the individual recordings. And also I’m collaborating long-distance to get a cover, which is actually going quite well. The hold-up is me! So considering the other projects that I’m doing at the same time, a more realistic date for release would be at the beginning of November. Sorry this is taking longer than I expected… I’ll try to get some samples up here soon. I’m working on our annual Roux Review DVD, and making it substantially more professional (hopefully) than last time, so that’s been taking up a lot of my free time. And of course, you can email me if you want your name on the (currently pretty short) list to be contacted when my CD is ready. (reachingupwardstudios@gmail.com)

Well, I’ve got to wrap up this post… More to follow soon… J

Zachary

Wat we did wiff da spyder

This is a video of my brother when he was about 3 years old, and we were living in Yukon, OK.

He wants to tell us wat we did wiff da spyder...

Enjoy!

Note:

Be prepared, because the intro may not be what you expect. Just don't turn it up too loud before you figure out what it is. I had fun making it (from scratch) in Adobe After Effects. :)

I just found out that I have 20/40 vision in one eye and 20/30 in the other. Hmmm... At least I don't have to get new frames... I wish I was one of those fortunate people who don't need glasses. :) ~sent from my cellphone with sms text messaging

Some thoughts I had this morning...

I am coming to the realization that there’s a lot of benefit to getting out of my comfort zone. Especially to improve my relationship with Matthew.

It’s worth it…

- to take the time to play store with my brother when I have more “important” things that I “should” be doing…

- to go tromp around in the mud and weeds so that he can have a good time when I’d rather be sitting inside working on my computer… even if I end up with poison ivy and ticks so that I’m itchy all over for a week…

- to give up an hour of free time in order to do something for him, rather than selfishly hold on to every minute that I’m allowed to do something I want to do…

- to take up the cross, and follow Christ…

Why would I do anything else?

Because I don’t feel like it.

Can that be changed?

Most certainly! Jesus has provided a way. He has promised, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

So it boils down to a simple choice. When I choose His grace, then He can do amazing things in me… in my attitude, in my thoughts, in my actions… When I choose my own way, I have no power to change those things. Instead, I end up being forced by what I know to be right to do things for Matthew, and no wonder he doesn’t enjoy that time with me. Would I enjoy it if he did something with me just because he had to, because I’m his brother? Of course not!

So I am faced with a choice. Is it a choice of whether I should take time for my brother today? Or is it a choice of whether to accept God’s perfect grace, and His will for my life, relationships with family, friends, and everything else? The second…

From Nature Photos

So which will I choose? That remains to be seen. But I know from past experience that I will be MUCH happier if I choose the second. I don’t know what’s going to happen today. What I do know is that I’ll be confronted with many opportunities to choose.

God still works miracles...

Wow! Yesterday when I was playing in church, my finger felt so bad that I could barely play. I was wondering how I was possibly going to do special music in this condition. I prayed, and prayed, and prayed, while I was sitting up front, that God would heal my finger, because there was no way I could do a difficult song like that for special music when I could barely play for church. My finger still didn’t feel better. But I had prayed, and I had faith that my prayer would be answered in the best way, although I didn’t know what that was. I sat up on the platform, and watched the service. Suddenly it was time for special music. I had this thought: “Don’t worry about special music, it will go fine.” I carried my chair and footstool up to the mic, then tuned

my guitar. Possibly because I didn’t want to tune too loudly and distract the audience, I tuned my B string very flat. Blissfully unaware, I started playing (on complete faith, because I didn’t know how I was going to make it through the song). Now the song I was playing (It is Well with my Soul) in this arrangement started on the B string, and of course it sounded really flat. As I’m sitting up there playing, all kinds of thoughts are going through my mind. “Why is it so flat? What can I do about it now? What are people going to think if I have to start over? How could I have mistuned it that badly?” Well, God gave me the impression to pause between phrases and reach over and tune it. When a suitable place came, (about 2 lines into the song) I went ahead and tuned mid-song. As it turned out, almost no one noticed anyway. From that point on, I really threw myself into playing. My reasoning was, since my finger was so bad, and I messed up the beginning, then I really should make the rest of it great. At least do what I can! So praying at the same time, I played the song. It was a miracle. My finger didn’t hurt

at all, and I made hardly any mistakes. God really blessed me, and I was not nervous at all. And from comments that people made after church, it seems that they really appreciated the expressiveness with which I played. (Note: Normally when I play, it tends to be sort of mechanical, just going through the motions. I practice expressively, so there’s some expression. But when I perform, I get nervous, so I just pretend to be expressive, and play what I had practiced. This time was notable, because I was able to be naturally expressive in a performance.) The air conditioning turned off during the middle, so towards the end of the song, when I paused before the refrain, it was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. It was just an awesome experience, having the Lord work through me in that way. I want to have that experience next time too. I don’t think it was because the circumstances were any better, it was because I knew I had to rely on the Lord in order to do a good job. I believe that if I can have that attitude every time, (even if my finger isn’t dislocated) then I can be much more

comfortable up front.

Isn't it incredible what God can do when we pray?!?!?!

My poor pinkie finger!!!

Sorry I can't do much of a post. I hurt my finger, and am having a hard time typing. So I had good intentions of putting a post up today, but oh well. I will as soon as I can. Sorry about that! Of bigger concern to me is that I am supposed to do special music tomorrow on my guitar, and a hurt left hand finger doesn't help that. So if you read this before tomorrow, please pray that something works out where I either am able to play (a miracle) or that I can find something else to perform, or (best yet) that I don't have to do it at all. Thanks!

Don't worry about my finger. :)It should be fine in a few days. I think I dislocated my knuckle, and it was quite painful, but it is feeling a little better after putting ice on it and wrapping it up.

My CD Preludio should be close to finished by the end of the month. I'm still editing the tracks, and when I get some done I'll put a sample up here for you to check out and comment on. It's gonna be fun... And of course I won't be selling them for an extravagant price - but the price is yet to be decided. It depends on how much it costs to produce. (of course) If you want a list of songs, send me an email at reachingupwardstudios@gmail.com. I can send you a list when I have one put together. (I'm working on it, but I still haven't decided the order of the songs. But I should have a better idea by the time I finish editing the audio.) If you are interested in purchasing a copy for yourself, email me at that address and I'll put you on the list. :)

Final update on Jester

Hello everyone! My goal is to put 1 to 2 posts a week, but so far I haven't been able to do a consistent rate. :)

Here's the final update on Jester...

He is now a free bird, living outside with all the wild animals. He is still somewhat tame, although he prefers to be on his own. But just two days ago he let me hold him for a few minutes. We had a major rainstorm yesterday afternoon, and didn't see him for the whole day. Matthew was somewhat worried, actually quite worried, so we prayed for Jester at worship. This morning he came to us, and we were relieved. Of course, we knew not finding him was better than finding a pile of feathers... But none the less, we were glad to see him. And it's nice not to have to spend all your free time catching grasshoppers to feed him (70 to 80 per day). :)

I will try to be more prompt in putting up posts, and making them interesting, not just long boring sagas about the things I've done that are interesting to no one but myself... :)