Four days ago was the wedding of my dear sister, and my new brother in law.

It was a good wedding I’d say… Everything went fairly smoothly. I’ll tell you about it!

Before I get in to the actual wedding story, I’ll tell you about what people came, what our roles were, and any other details that need to be cleared before you can fully understand the wedding.

There were several relatives and friends who came for the wedding. On his side, most of them live close by, but on our side we had: Uncle John and his brother Phillip, Uncle Dan, Aunt Kathy and Uncle Bob, Grandma and Grandpa, And Micah. Then Hwan was here, Sarah and Suzanne, and also Megan and Pam.

As for roles in the wedding… there were no groomsmen or bridesmaids, so that pretty much left ushers. I was an usher, and Isaac was an usher. Then one of his brother’s was an usher, and a friend (Thomas).

Now I can get on to the story…

The night before the wedding, I distinctly hear Mom say “Nobody is going to sleep past 8.” So naturally, I figured I would be waking up early. I was a bit surprised the next morning when I woke up at 8:30 to Rachel handing me the shirt I was supposed to wear that morning.

After I got up, I figured it was about time to get ready for going to the wedding (it was at 10:45 in the morning.) So I came downstairs and put the clothes that I had put in the wash the night before, in to the dryer.

Then I just sort of walked around the house watching what everybody else was doing to get ready. The house was pretty much like rush hour traffic, but I suppose you can’t expect much different on the wedding day of your sister!

I was simply waiting for the clothes in the dryer to get done, so I wasn’t particularly busy… Just making some conversation, and watching the various things happening. Including the coffee spill….

Micah and Isaac were goofing around, and Isaac just happened to have a cup of black coffee in hand. He didn’t see Dad standing behind him however, and that was how the spill happened… He turned sideways and was doing some sort of pose where he stretched both of his arms in opposite directions, and well, the coffee cup hit Dad and spilled all over his White shirt. Mom had only layed out two white shirts, so mine went to Dad and I got a maroon-ish shirt.

Finally the clothes in the dryer were done, so I went and got those, and was now ready for the wedding. By this time it was getting close to 9:30, so everyone headed down to the church.

The road to the church was uneventful.

After arriving at the church, Micah opened the trunk of his car, which he pulled his guitar case (with a guitar inside.) out of. I also pulled my accordion case (with an accordion inside.) out of the trunk. Then I went in to the reception hall and put my accordion (inside the case) right next to the piano.

After that we all headed in to the sanctuary, where not much was happening. I was starting to get a little bit nervous about playing the accordion for the reception, so I went outside and practiced a song… I then determined I was ready.

After not too long, people started showing up. I was a bit confused as to whether I was really going to be an usher or not, so I asked and confirmed that suspicion. After being briefed on how to seat people, we all began seating various people who showed up… Not all that interesting I suppose… I really had no idea what I was doing!

After everyone had been seated, I determined that I wouldn’t be needed for letting people out of the church, so I seated Rachel and sat next to her. The seating order got mixed up, but it all worked out.

Then Isaac seated Mom, and Grandma and Grandpa. Then Cody seated Bob and Leona. Next would come the Bride…

After a very short wait, Dad and Rebecca came up the isle. Wedding march played, and all eyes were on them. She looked happy.

They came up the isle, and at the front came the question “Who gives this Woman to be married to this Man?” “Her Mother and I.” Then Dad was asked to Join the hands of Rebecca and Joshua. And then Mark talked a little bit, and we were all asked to be seated.

Next came a talk from Cameron about marriage and subjection and things like that. And then Mark also gave a few words.

Then after that, Came the vows. It all went along as usual. “I do” “I do”

Then we sang two hymns, and the marriage ceremony was over. Rebecca and Joshua headed out, then the ushers came and ushered us out.

We all went out in sort of single file, then came to the greeting line in the hall, and shook hands and gave hugs.

Then came the reception.

The reception was good as well, I went out in to the reception hall and got out my accordion. I played several different hymns (I was supposed to play 4, but things went slower than expected) and got several people asking me all sorts of questions…. Little kids ask “What is that?!” “Is that yours?!” “Where’s your chimp?” Then Mark wanted a couple of specials (He didn’t know I played!) so I played those. Mom said it was kind of hard for most of the people to hear the accordion because of the position I was in (Hey, it was right next to the piano!)

Then umm, I locked up my accordion and got some stuff to eat. The food was sloppy Joe’s and vegetables with dip. I got about half done with my sloppy Joe when Micah was going to sing, and needed somebody to man the camera, so I was asked to do that.

I figured I’d probably be manning it for a few minutes, then I could go and finish my lunch, but it turned out I was going to be cameraman for the rest of the reception.

Basically, there were songs, talking and praying. It was a good reception

The truck was decorated really well for a wedding getaway car. It was poka-doted all over, and yeah… Had a lot of different things.

I’ll see if I can post the video of the entire thing if I can. If I can’t, I’ll at least post pictures

That was the wedding.

l8er

-Benjamin

Well, I’m going to try to get a few entries posted on here, and do some commenting

Later

-Benjamin

The first night, we sat at the table and ate chips and salsa, then sang some songs, and umm went to bed!

Second day (Friday) in the afternoon, the Rudkins were going to some horse riding lessons and so asked Hwan if he and the rest of us wanted to come along and ride some horses. So Rachel, me and Hwan went along with them. When we got there, the guy hadn’t remembered that that day was riding lessons, so he was a little bit busy. He said that he had a group of preschoolers comming for horse rides, and that should only take 20 minutes. So we waited around, brushed some horses and then the preschoolers came. Just like he said, it only took about 20 minutes, but we didn’t really end up doing a trail ride or anything (they had said that was the plan.)

So, after that, Mrs. Rudkin brought us home, and we just sort of did a few things around the house. Then we went to FIGIO and the guy who was speaking was Mike Riddle. He spoke about Stem Cell Research, and said how Fetal stem Cell Research has yeilded no positive results, and adult stem cell research has saved more han 20,000 lives! Pretty interesting!

And also after FIGIO, Pastor Deskins talked to Hwan and Hwan got saved! Really really good news! It was exciting

Then also, right as we were planning on leaving, I asked Dad if we wanted to get a subscription to Answers Magazine because they were offering a free DVD with each year you subscribe. He said yeah and I asked how long: “However long you think” he replied. So I ran over to the church building (that’s where they were handling subscriptions) and came in right while they were packaging things up. “I hope I’m not too late!” I thought. But luckily, I asked if I could get a subscription and the lady said “Oh sure! Just fill this form out.” So I did… The paper they were using kept on making the pen not work. So right as I was filling out my email, it stopped as I was writing “gmail.com”. And the lady said “Is it gmail?” “yeah” “ok, I’ve got gmail” So she just took it without me having to finish that. Then I was going to get my DVD’s but they’d already put them in the car to take home! So I went out there, and they got all the boxes out. I was looking through all the different ones trying to find the ones I liked, and Mike said “You can just take a six pack if you want.” “Really?” “Yeah, sure. You can have a better deal for waiting till the last moment!” “ok!” So he got them out, and I picked his set.

So then I thanked them, and went back over to the gymn building. I was just leaning against the wall listening to conversations when the lady came in and said “You forgot to pay for your subscription!” I said “oh sorry!” So we went over to the church building again, and she said “22 dollars” So I gave her that, and she gave me the latest issue. Then as I was walking out the door I was thinking “Wait a minute… I got a two year subscription didn’t I?” So I turned around, went back inside and said “I got a two year subscription!” And she looked at the form and said “oh! 40 dollars!” So I gave her the extra money and they said “Thank you for your honesty!” And then I headed out to the car with my new issue, and put it in the car.

Then I went back in to the gym, and listened to them talk for a little while, and then we went home.

I went to bed shortly after we went home.

On Saturday, we played some table games including Scrabble, Upwards, and Settlers. Then in the evening we went over to Anna and Calebs house for dinner. While we were there, Joe and Laura and their family came over, and brought a canoe. Hwan had never been canoeing, so we took it out on to their pond, and went turtle hunting (sorta.) After we went around trying to sneak up on turtles for a while, we decided we wouldn’t be able to catch one in the canoe, so we heading back to the shore. There, two of Joe’s girls, one of his boys, and Rachel all wanted a canoe ride, so, they all got in, Joe got out, and we went for a ride around the pond. It was interesting; they tried to go fishing, but I think we were all just a bit loud for that.

Then we went back to shore, and everybody got out except me. Then Mary got in, and we went for a short ride. After we did that, it was just about time for Joe to go home, so we took his canoe back to their SUV, and put it on top. Then I went inside and had some dinner (I was hungry!) It was spaghetti.

After I had dinner, we left and went home. Once we were home, we finished the game of settlers we had started. Hwan won I think.

Then I went to bed.

On Sunday, the morning wasn’t too interesting, but we had a barbecue in the afternoon, and played baseball in the evening. It was pretty fun. We were all pretty tired after playing baseball….

Monday, not too much interesting happened that I can remember… We played some more bored games; In fact, we played a lot of bored games while Hwan was here! And umm, after that, we went to nursing homes. (and you know what’s strange, the phone just rang and it was Kathy asking if I was going to nursing homes tonight!) He had fun singing to all the elderly people. Then we went home, and played some more bored games!

On Tuesday, It was one of the less exciting day (aka, a relaxing day….) We played some bored games, and just sort of recharged.

Wednesday, Hwan came with me to the men’s breakfast at 6AM, and he decided he doesn’t like waking up that early We both wound up going back to bed, but he slept in until almost 4PM! I didn’t think I woke him up that early Anyways, that night, Rebecca and Josh were over, and we cooked some cake or something… It was fairly good. Actually got to bed fairly early that night… 11:30!

Thursday, Hwan went over to Anna and Calebs in the morning, and rode horses with Caleb. In the meantime, Rachel went shopping with Anna and didn’t get home until 2PM. While all of this was going on, I was just trying to catch up online, and read some of my Answers Magazine. First Caleb and James got home with Hwan, and James, Me and Hwan went out and shot the slingshot, sling and airsoft out in the barn yard. Then Anna and Rachel got home, and they brought home Dutch Bro’s coffee ^_^ It was verry good! Then we wound up doing a whole yard cleanup project around here. Everybody helped and we got a lot done! Before it got dark, Caleb and James went home. We stayed up pretty late that night, but it was Hwan’s last night here.

Then on Friday, it was Hwan’s last day; They went yardsaling in the morning, and I woke up pretty late. I decided to bike down to the trailer park where the yard sales were, and on my way there, they were on their way back, so they stopped, and I put my bike in the back of their truck, and we went home. Then in the afternoon, Rachel, Me and Dad took Hwan to Boise to the airport, and we said goodbye to him.

That’s pretty much it! Sorry it’s so long

-Benjamin

Sometime shortly after Isaac left for New York, one of our computers broke down. Basically that means that since one person was gone, a computer decided it didn’t need to work Not big news, but we haven’t been able to fix it yet.

Another note on computers is, Isaac ordered all the parts for building Dad a new system. So after he left, I built one of the first computers I’ve ever built. We were going to use one case that we had for it at first, but it turned out to be too short for the motherboard. So we wound up swaping cases with another system to finish his computer.

During that same point in time, I did some work for Grandpa on his new house. Putting up blinds, a ceiling fan, a garage door opener and some towel rings.

Next, during April, we had a marriage. Luke Parrish and Sarah Chaves are now Mr. and Mrs. Parrish. They got married at the court house, so there wasn’t a wedding (though there are plans for a reception…)

And moving a little bit forward in time, Mary went on a trip to Canada to visit with her Fiance` Anthony. She had a good time, and it was kind of interesting not having her around.

ok, that’s enough for this entry. Next I’ll tell you about our visitor, and some of the things we’ve been doing in the last week.

See you then.

-Benjamin

I’m going to just fill you all in on the latest stuff, one post at a time (meaning I’m going to split it up in to seperate posts.)

So, to start off way back at my birthday. I got a few things for my birthday and had a party with just mostly family and stuff; it was good. I got a few things for my birthday; the one I’ve been using the most is the MP4 player I got from Isaac, and umm, otherwise I did get some money from Grandma and Grandpa, and a few other relatives.

Then shortly thereafter, Isaac left on a trip to New York which he’s comming home from on the 11th (or so I hear.) It’s been sort of interesting without him; well ok so not very interesting I guess he’s having a good time over there though

Umm, Other than that, there’s a few things that happened. Including, but not limited to, a computer breaking down, a trip to Canada, a marriage, a new computer, a visitor, and quite a few other things. I’ll fill you in on those in the next post though.

Later

-Benjamin

Religion vs Science

“Let me explain the problem science has with Jesus Christ.” The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand. “You’re a Christian, aren’t you, son?”

“Yes, sir.”

“So you believe in God?”

“Absolutely.”

“Is God good?”

“Sure! God’s good.”

“Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?”

“Yes.”

“Are you good or evil?”

“The Bible says I’m evil.”

The professor grins knowingly. “Ahh! THE BIBLE!” He considers for a moment. “Here’s one for you. Let’s say there’s a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help them? Would you try?”

“Yes sir, I would.”

“So you’re good…!”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“Why not say that? You would help a sick and maimed person if you could… in fact most of us would if we could… God doesn’t.

[No answer.]

“He doesn’t, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?”

[No answer]

The elderly man is sympathetic. “No, you can’t, can you?” He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax. In philosophy, you have to go easy with the new ones. “Let’s start again, young fella.”

“Is God good?”

“Er… Yes.”

“Is Satan good?”

“No.”

“Where does Satan come from?” The student falters.

“From… God…”

“That’s right. God made Satan, didn’t he?” The elderly man runs his bony fingers through his thinning hair and turns to the smirking, student audience.”I think we’re going to have a lot of fun this semester, ladies and gentlemen.” He turns back to the Christian.

“Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Evil’s everywhere, isn’t it? Did God make everything?”

“Yes.”

“Who created evil?

[No answer]

“Is there sickness in this world? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness. All the terrible things - do they exist in this world? “

The student squirms on his feet. “Yes.”

“Who created them? “

[No answer] The professor suddenly shouts at his student. “WHO CREATED THEM? TELL ME, PLEASE!” The professor closes in for the kill and climbs into the Christian’s face. In a still small voice: “God created all evil, didn’t He, son?”

[No answer]

The student tries to hold the steady, experienced gaze and fails.

Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace the front of the classroom like an aging panther. The class is mesmerized. “Tell me,” he continues, “How is it that this God is good if He created all evil throughout all time?” The professor swishes his arms around to encompass the wickedness of the world. “All the hatred, the brutality, all the pain, all the torture, all the death and ugliness and all the suffering created by this good God is all over the world, isn’t it, young man?”

[No answer]

“Don’t you see it all over the place? Huh?”

Pause.

“Don’t you?” The professor leans into the student’s face again and whispers, “Is God good?”

[No answer]

“Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?”

The student’s voice betrays him and cracks. “Yes, professor. I do.”

The old man shakes his head sadly. “Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen him? “

“No, sir. I’ve never seen Him.”

“Then tell us if you’ve ever heard your Jesus?”

“No, sir. I have not.”

“Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus…in fact, do you have any sensory perception of your God whatsoever?”

[No answer]

“Answer me, please.”

“No, sir, I’m afraid I haven’t.”

“You’re AFRAID… you haven’t?”

“No, sir.”

“Yet you still believe in him?”

“…yes…”

“That takes FAITH!” The professor smiles sagely at the underling.”According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son? Where is your God now?”

[The student doesn’t answer]

“Sit down, please.”

The Christian sits…Defeated.

Another Christian raises his hand. “Professor, may I address the class?”

The professor turns and smiles. “Ah, another Christian in the vanguard! Come, come, young man. Speak some proper wisdom to the gathering.”

The Christian looks around the room. “Some interesting points you are making, sir. Now I’ve got a question for you. Is there such thing as heat?”

“Yes,” the professor replies. “There’s heat.”

“Is there such a thing as cold?”

“Yes, son, there’s cold too.”

“No, sir, there isn’t.”

The professor’s grin freezes. The room suddenly goes very cold.

The second Christian continues. “You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super- heat, mega-heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat but we don’t have anything called ‘cold’. We can hit 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold, otherwise we would be able to go colder than 458 -

You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. “Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.”

Silence. A pin drops somewhere in the classroom.

“Is there such a thing as darkness, professor?”

“That’s a dumb question, son. What is night if it isn’t darkness? What are you getting at…?”

“So you say there is such a thing as darkness?”

“Yes…”

“You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something, it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it’s called darkness, isn’t it? That’s the meaning we use to define the word. In reality, Darkness isn’t. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker and give me a jar of it. Can you…give me a jar of darker darkness, professor?”

Despite himself, the professor smiles at the young effrontery before him. This will indeed be a good semester. “Would you mind telling us what your point is, young man?”

“Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with and so your conclusion must be in error….”

The professor goes toxic. “Flawed…? How dare you…!”"

“Sir, may I explain what I mean?”

The class is all ears.

“Explain… oh, explain…” The professor makes an admirable effort to regain control. Suddenly he is affability itself. He waves his hand to silence the class, for the student to continue.

“You are working on the premise of duality,” the Christian explains. “That for example there is life and then there’s death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science cannot even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism but has never seen, much less fully understood them. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, merely the absence of it.”

The young man holds up a newspaper he takes from the desk of a neighbor who has been reading it. “Here is one of the most disgusting tabloids this country hosts, professor. Is there such a thing as immorality?”

“Of course there is, now look…”

“Wrong again, sir. You see, immorality is merely the absence of morality.

Is there such thing as injustice? No. Injustice is the absence of justice. Is there such a thing as evil?” The Christian pauses. “Isn’t evil the absence of good?”

The professor’s face has turned an alarming color. He is so angry he is temporarily speechless.

The Christian continues. “If there is evil in the world, professor, and we all agree there is, then God, if he exists, must be accomplishing a work through the agency of evil. What is that work, God is accomplishing? The Bible tells us it is to see if each one of us will, of our own free will, choose good over evil.”

The professor bridles. “As a philosophical scientist, I don’t view this matter as having anything to do with any choice; as a realist, I absolutely do not recognize the concept of God or any other theological factor as being part of the world equation because God is not observable.”

“I would have thought that the absence of God’s moral code in this world is probably one of the most observable phenomena going,” the Christian replies.

“Newspapers make billions of dollars reporting it every week! Tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?”

“If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do.”

“Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?”

The professor makes a sucking sound with his teeth and gives his student a silent, stony stare.

“Professor. Since no-one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a priest?”

“I’ll overlook your impudence in the light of our philosophical discussion. Now, have you quite finished?” the professor hisses.

“So you don’t accept God’s moral code to do what is righteous?”

“I believe in what is - that’s science!”

“Ahh! SCIENCE!” the student’s face splits into a grin. “Sir, you rightly state that science is the study of observed phenomena. Science too is a premise which is flawed…”

“SCIENCE IS FLAWED?” the professor splutters.

The class is in uproar.

The Christian remains standing until the commotion has subsided. “To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, may I give you an example of what I mean?” The professor wisely keeps silent.

The Christian looks around the room. “Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor’s brain?” The class breaks out in laughter.

The Christian points towards his elderly, crumbling tutor. “Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor’s brain… felt the professor’s brain, touched or smelt the professor’s brain?” No one appears to have done so.

The Christian shakes his head sadly. “It appears no-one here has had any sensory perception of the professor’s brain whatsoever. Well, according to the rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science, I DECLARE that the professor has no brain.”

The class is in chaos.

The Christian sits down.

When is your birthday again?

Here’s Rachel

And here’s James being silly

Isaac and Obadiah

And the best for last!

Lydia was cute in her outfit

Daylight savings time started today. I never did quite get why we have daylight savings time, but I guess it’s just another one of those silly things.

Last night, we went and played “ong pong” at the Seventh Day Church Of God in Caldwell. It was a youth group type thing (even though there was really almost as many people past their prime) and it was pretty fun I think. Ong Pong is multiplayer ping pong. basically, you have somebody who serves to you, and somebody you serve to. So everybody lines up in a circle, and picks the person to their right (or if everybody consents, to their left) to receive from. Then the first person serves the ball, the ball bounces on the table, and has to bounce on the floor once before the served can hit the ball on to the table (you require a hard floor for this by the way.) And yeah, that goe round and round for a while until somebody gets 5 “points” (misses) and then they’re out.

Yup that’s ong pong.

The weather’s been really nice! spring like weather too. Hopefully it’s like this clear till my birthday and beyond

Speaking of birthdays…. Happy Birthday Amanda Hope your Mom gets better soon.

That ends this post.

-Benjamin

Ummm what else to say? My two sisters and one of my brother’s are getting married. This will be one crazy year I tell ya, but that’s what makes it tick eh? Anthony (Mary’s Fiance`) came up for a visit in February, and we all went to the Valentine’s day tea(pictures to come). That was purty fun.

I’m almost done with the senior center website. Gotta hear back from Shari though.

Got a lot of projects going to.

Spring’s comming on! Aren’t you excited?!

My birthday’s in 13 days!

That’s it for now!

-Benjamin