The Phenomenal Blog of J.J. (For the King)

My VERY LAST Blog Post!!

2011-08-31T03:02:00.011-04:00

You heard right. The Phenomenal Blog of J.J. (For the King) is closing. Why, you ask?

I've moved my blog to my new site, JJBiddinger.com! (Some of you may already know this.) I've recently implemented Google Friend Connect onto the website so you can follow it.

Steps to Follow New Site!

1. On the bottom, left-hand corner is a sign-up link. Click it.

2. In the pop-up, choose a site to sign-up with (probably Google).

3. Sign in to that account.

4. Make sure that the box to receive my newsletter is selected. (I will use this to alert you when new posts are available.) Finally, select "done".

When I post something, it should also show up in your Blogger feed.

Visit JJBiddinger.com NOW! >>

For the final time, this is J.J. Biddinger, signing off. See ya'll soon. :)

Ryan and Rachel's Wedding + More!

2011-05-02T00:02:00.011-04:00

Welcome. You have found another abandoned blog. Good grief, I haven't posted for more than six months! I am breaking my leave of absence with, dare I say it, another post.

So... this it it. On the following three day journey, I went to a baseball game, toured the slums of Detroit, threw a surprise birthday party, crashed a wedding rehearsal, filmed a wedding, talked with people I haven't seen in ages, etc.

Note: Clicking a picture will show you a much bigger version of it.

The First Baseball Game Ever
You know those things that you've always wanted to do? You grow up hoping to drive a car, go to a faraway place, stay up all night... gradually, these wishes seem to be granted. Since a very young age, I've longed to go to a real baseball game...

When I heard that I'd won a free trip to a Detroit Tigers game (through my youth group), somehow life became happier. ;) I ended up spending $10 on a hot dog and drink at the game, but hey, it's all part of the experience! Walking around the stadium (seeing all the sights), was a blast!

Then post some pictures already!!

Okay I will!!! Just get off my back, left brain. >_>

Some of the people who took me to the game:

Slums and the People Mover
Believe it or not, I've hardly seen a real homeless person in my life. I have memories of one or two guys who may have been so, but even they weren't for certain. After the baseball game, Levi, El and Andrew picked me up with several lunch bags to pass out. I gave some of them to a homeless guy and girl. It was quite gratifying!

This. Is. Not. Possible.

We drove around on Detroit's "People Mover", which is basically a train in the air. It gives a great view of the city! We walked (and rode) through so many strange places. After handing out sandwich bags worth like 50 cents each, we went to a restaurant where I bought the most expensive thing on the menu. *sigh*

The HEATHEN GLUTTON standing in front of Canada!!

Ryan Cooper, YES!
We shocked, and I mean SHOCKED, Ryan with a surprise birthday party. ;)

Ryan opening a *cough* slightly unorthodox gift from us guys. :P

The Rehearsal!
By "crashing the wedding rehearsal", I just meant showing up unexpectedly. :P I wasn't planning to be in the wedding, so my job was taking care of the little kids. Best. Job. Ever.

Afterwards (10:30pm, perhaps?), we went to the Wegners' house for a rehearsal party.

Kevin practising his Best Man speech. Many laughs. :P

Marriage... Brings Us Together, Today.
The day of Ryan Wegner and Rachel Heyworth's wedding arrived!

Playing tricks on the iron lady, El?

Approximately 10 minutes before the wedding, I was asked to video the ceremony! What a nerve-racking opportunity it was! I accepted, and really enjoyed having the responsibility. Ryan and Rachel, if you hate the video I took, please kill Andrew first! He recommended me!

The best part of the ceremony (aside from the getting married) was a goof. :P Mr. Heyworth was asked who gives this woman to be married, and he mistakenly said, "Her father and I do." An awkward laugher came next. That's usually the kind of thing that only happens in movies. ;)

One of these people do not belong. :P

This SELFISH table refused to let us peasants sit with them!

Long ago, I loved to write out long, dramatic conclusions to blog posts, but I shall just end this quietly. However, a final congradulation is in order. :)

CONGRATS, RYAN & RACHEL! :)

In Christ, J.J. Biddinger

The Guys-Only Camping Trip

2010-10-12T01:17:00.021-04:00

A bunch of us guys went camping! It was SO much fun. (See how I did that? Somehow making it uppercase changes everything.) I have lots of pictures, and I'll do my best to add miscellaneous stories in between. Last names are disguised.

It's actually been more than two weeks since the trip. Every day I've looked at my half-written post with dismay. If you're reading this, it means it's been finished! :P

Thursday
We arrived at the Coops on Thursday night, a day before the camping trip began. After playing a game, Ryan, Andrew and I went on a two-hour walk in the middle of the night. We arrived back at a reasonable hour, though: 2:30am.

Here's my first BIG MISTAKE of the camping trip. Andrew bought a bunch of snacks for the trip, and I was really hungry when we got back from the walk. I went out to the car and stuffed my pocket FULL of orange candy slices and Pringles. (FULL.) Ryan and I talked for the next three hours, and I had them sitting in my picket the entire time... waiting to eat them... they slowly spilled out of my pocket into the sleeping bag.

Friday
On Friday, we set up the tents while waiting for other people to arrive. In the late afternoon, when there was a good amount of us together, we shot skeet! I thought it would be nearly impossible, but I shot 5 of them out of the air!

Watching the skeet shooters:

The militia:

Levi:

Jacob:

Ryan:

Swinging on the swings:

Now for the most memorable night of the trip. It was Friday night, nearing midnight. Jacob and I weren't sure what to do. Eventually we decided to go for a walk up the trail. We reached the area where cars were parked and noticed a blanket lying on the ground.

Naturally, we walked over to investigate. It was lying right next to a white car. As we reached down to pick it up, then car lights turned on! Unnerved, we turned around and walked away (figuring someone in the car was simply startled).

However, more of the car's lights turned on and the car began moving! We dashed away and jumped off the main vehicle driving area. You'd like the car would give us a break, right? We're just two scared kids who don't like the idea of getting run over.

The car started full-speed at us. (Okay, it was only like 5mph, but it seemed fast when you're a few yards away.) We stood up and faced our fear. As it turns out, Levi, Andrew and Mr. Coop had been sitting in the car talking! We joined the conversation.

One thing led to another, and we all decided to go to a beautiful pier on Lake Huron (and yes, it's like 1am). After fetching Ryan C., we headed off! The lake is beautiful at night. I talked with Jacob, while Andrew/Ryan paired up and Levi/Mr. Coop conversed as well.

I found out later that the latter aforementioned group (are you still following me here? lol) was searched by the police! We left our car door open, there was a knife on the seat, loads of ammunition and guns in the vehicle, etc. No big deal. ;)

We took this photo (among like 20 similar shots) on the pier:

We decided to head to Wal-Mart (Save Money. Live Better.) to get some football socks. Going shopping at 3'o'clock in the morning for sports footwear? Right. ;) We thought about going to Denny's, but Mr. Coop desired to get a few hours of sleep in before morning.

Seeing if Wal-Mart had any good hats:

Epic guys photo:

It did not end well.

Five guys. Four o'clock. Three hours until morning. What to do? Firstly, we decided to visit McDonalds. Upon arriving, we found out they don't open until 5:30. We had an hour to kill. Down the street was a 24/7 car wash, so we hung out there for a while, playing games, taking photos, etc.

Hanging out at the car-wash:

We FINALLY made it to McDonalds.

Saturday
When you're pulling an all-nighter, you think, "Hey guys this will be fun! Let's do it!!!!1!!!" In the morning, though, you feel awful and all you want is sleep. :P

On this morning, however, we went to Steven's football game! It was a great time. (And his team won.) I slept on the way to the game and on the way back.

Steven is #19, the third player on the right:

Oftentimes the most fun times of trips just happens to be the time that no cameras are around. ;) We played several incredible games of tackle-football on Friday night and Saturday. Tackle football is SO much fun... but we were all as sore as can be.

Shooting the air-soft gun:

Some guys at our camp site:

On Saturday night, at around 9pm, Jacob and I went into our tent and crashed. Have you ever felt pain in your sleep? Well, somehow, I got this incredibly painful headache while sleeping that wouldn't go away. I dreamed of frantically trying to go up to the Coops' house, but I'd just wake up before getting there.

Waking up on Sunday after 12 hours of this nightmare was awesome.

Sunday

Ryan and Mr. Coop boffering:

Me with their new cat, Milo. :)

Again, watching the skeet shooters:

Again, the militia:

That's what I said.

We went to the Heys in the afternoon! Playing volleyball:

"DO NOT take my picture..." - I'm sorry Manda. ;)

The guys' group picture:

We spent the night at the Cargs, and left for home in the morning. The End.

God bless, J.J. Biddinger

My Camping Adventure! (2010)

2010-08-10T00:11:00.013-04:00

During the previous weekend, my family went to the Cooper family's country house on a camping trip. This post explains what happened, with photos. ;)

Friday
We arrived at the Cooper's house at around 4pm, and were the first to arrive.

Waiting in the gator for people to arrive:

Jack posing in front of our campsite:

My family. :)

After midnight is when the fun began. After a game of The Name Game, the weather turned freezing. I'm not sure how cold it was, but it felt about 40°-50°.

Savanna and Luke on the trail:

Nevertheless, five of us guys (Ryan, Levi, Andrew, Joel and myself) walked down to an open field to watch shooting stars. We then went to our own little camp area, and stayed up until about 4am eating chips and talking around the campfire. Getting into my warm sleeping bag was glory. :P

Watching shooting stars in the middle of the night:

Saturday
Soon after breakfast, we played volleyball before heading to the Croswell cardboard boat races.

Volleyball:

Watching the Croswell cardboard boat races:

We had a large boat with a "Viking" theme. Most of the younger kids in our group raced in it, and therefore, the boat began to deteriorate. I had no plans to ride in a boat, but one thing lead to another, and us guys decided to race as Vikings!

Some of our younger Vikings:

There were 8-9 of us, and we were tipping from the very start. Hundreds of people cheered; wanting us to sink. We made it through the race alright, but once we passed the finish line, we sank! It was so much fun!

Ele, Levi, myself and Amanda with unique expressions:
After the boat race, we all drove to a fancy beach along Lake Erie. They had sand volleyball courts (which we gladly used), and more memorably, a long walkway into the lake. It was beautiful.

Six of us guys (Levi, Andrew, Ryan, Joel, Jacob, myself) stayed behind and went to McDonalds. I got Frozen Strawberry Lemonade, and it is indeed one of the best-tasting drinks I've ever had.

Jacob and I stayed up until Sunday morning (past 7am) walking around and talking. We discussed nearly everything; movies, books, people, sports, our beliefs, testimonies, past experiences, and anything else we could think of to pass the hours. ;)

Jacob will either love me or hate me for posting this picture. ;)

Sunday
Jacob and I were so tired! We had a church meeting, and I closed my eyes several times during that time. However, it didn't help. I had an inner-tiredness that required hours of sleep. ;) (After the trip, I sleep for about 16 hours to catch up on sleep!)

Seth and I in the woods:

Bre, Ryan and Ele's smiles are just perfect:

Building a cardboard house:

Getting ready to leave:

Apparently, Ryan loves me...

Before this summer began, I expected the season to be a bore. However, I've gone on a 3-day Cedar Point trip, my brother's wedding, a week in Indiana for a Youth Conference, a 3-day camping trip and my brother-in-law's wedding reception in a few weeks. Oh, how I have been blessed! God is good all the time!

God bless, J.J. Biddinger

Donnie's Wedding and Youth Conference 2010!

2010-07-24T23:12:00.020-04:00

My family drove to Hammond, Indiana (and surronding areas) for my brother Donnie's wedding! My sister, Grace, and brother-in-law's brother, Levi, stayed with me for the rest of the week to go to the church's Youth Conference!

Rehearsal Day
We arrived at Donnie's house at noontime, and did minor work until the rehearsal dinner was being held at 4pm. We wandered around the church, had dinner, and began rehearsal.

Driving to Indiana with our feet out the window:

Working on Donnie's place:

Bam-Bam! Enough said...

What an organized wedding preperation it was! Every detail was planned out to perfection. My role wasn't as complicated as some, but it took me a while to understand it all.

Myself, a "Jr. Groomsman", with my sister, Grace:

Practicing onstage:

Ele, Levi, Andrew and myself stayed at Donnie's house, while the others spent the night with other local families. We had lots of fun!

Getting out the pre-wedding jitters!

Wedding Day
Us guys awoke and drove to the church's Groomsmen Lounge. After the photographer arrived, we took groomsmen (and various other) pictures. The wedding went fairly smoothly! Donnie and Connie are married! :)

In the groom's room:

One of the my favorite pictures ever:

In tuxes, waiting for the photographer:

Bear, Manda and Amity:

The only mistake I made was onstage. After a half hour of standing on the steps, I stared into a light too long and lost my balance. I started to tip over, but caught my balance and jerked back into position. It made a slight noise, but I'm not sure if many people noticed. :P

The bridesmaid photo:

The day, in general, was great. However, I had numerous wardrobe malfunctions. My tux button fell off, and I had to loosely tie it back on. I got some sort of ink on both my tux jacket and pants. I still don't know what it was (perhaps my shoe polish?). I also got blue paint all over the tux. Additionally, the heel of both pairs of my dress shoes started to fall off. To top it all off, after the reception was over, my tie slipped off and fell into oil in a parking lot.

Donnie, Connie, and Pastor and Mrs. Schaap:

Nevertheless, it was a great day! I became a brother-in-law again!

Donnie and Connie at the wedding reception:

Pre-Youth Conference

Sunday
Sunday was a great day. At nighttime, Dr. Jack Schaap preached a fantastic message about walking with God. In short, he explained the importance of getting away from everything man-made and just being alone with God - perhaps deep in the woods.

Displaying our fancy new T-shirts from Appii.com:

Monday
On Monday, Katie took myself, Grace and Levi on a tour of her bus route. We got to meet many people deep in Chicago. We stopped at a park, and played games with a bunch of kids. We also had dinner in a Spanish family's home. It was amazing trying to follow conversations in both English and Spanish!

At the park:

After that, we went to Lake Michigan. It was beautiful! We could see the large buildings of Chicago from the shoreline. The water, however, was freezing. It took much coaxing for me to actually go into the water. ;)

On Lake Michigan:

Levi, the Sand-Man!

Tuesday
We had little to do on Tuesday, and ended up going into three different thrift stores! In the evening, we went to a church where Katie's tour group was singing. We met her other tour members. The service itself was fantastic.

Playing miniature golf at the college:

Toying with camera effects:

Katie and Grace, making plans for the day:

Katie with her tour group:

Youth Conference
Wednesday
Wednesday began Youth Conference. My favorite message was by Dr. Schaap, about being A Polished Shaft for Christ. I don't want to be used for little things; I want God to use me to change the world.

Sitting in the balcony:

Thursday
Thursday was a very long day. We had to be at the church before 8am. The most memorable part of the morning was Schaap's interview with Mosab Yousef, son of the founder of Hamas. My favorite part was near the end. Schaap had been praising Yousef for all the great stuff he is doing to fight Islam, when Yousef stopped him mid-sentence. Instead of accepting the glory, he deflected it all to Christ. "Please, do not give me any praise. God is all that matters. All glory goes to him."

In the afternoon, we went to the Illiana Motor Speedway, and received a free vuvuzela (horn) for being one of the first 500 to arrive! They did go-cart races, a monster truck show, and a bus derby. If you ask me, the bus race was the best. One of them even flipped over!

Some of the 5,000+ at the race track:

The Monster Truck crushing:

Prepare to crash, buses!

Towards evening, we all went to Hyles-Anderson College. They had food, games, inflatable slides, and lots more. At nightfall, they launched fireworks!

Friday
My favorite message of Friday morning was by Freddy DeAnda. In the afternoon, Schaap preached one of his most famous sermons, "America, America", which I've actually watched before. Nevertheless, it broke me to pieces. I'm still a little shaken from it, and I'm writing this two days later. In brief, we live in such a wicked nation, and only by the grace of God are we not destroyed at this very moment.

Levi and Emma, a super-fun dog:

Stopping at Arby's on the way home:

After the final service, we drove home. I got two free t-shirts out of the deal, too. ;) Overall, the conference was fantastic. From side-splitting skits, to meaningful music, to great games, and to moving messages, this was a blessed time!

God bless, J.J. Biddinger

The Greatest Place on Earth: Cedar Point

2010-05-19T00:18:00.016-04:00

This post, I'll skip the pointless introduction. ;) Some friends took us on a two-night, three-day trip to Cedar Point and Castaway Bay, their indoor waterpark. We spent Sunday at the hotel/waterpark, Monday at Cedar Point/the waterpark, and Tuesday again at the waterpark. Here's the full story!

Sunday
Meeting up with Barak and Amanda at noontime:

On our drive, we stopped at this travel plaza:

Arriving at the hotel; these water slides exit the building, then reenter it:

Andrew and I made good use of our money: the arcade!

This is the waterpark's "fun house":

My brother Donnie, his fiancée Connie, and my sister Katie arrived very early on Monday morning. Our entire family was together again! It's a rare occasion nowadays.

Monday
We woke up and planning to be at Cedar Point by 9am. Swiftly getting the vans packed up, we all wondered how the weather would fair for the day. Much of the amusement park's rides stays open during slight rain, but everything closes for thunder. Needless to say, heavy rain or lightning could ruin the trip.

Such antisipation! Such excitement! I couldn't wait to see the towering views of the Dragster, Power Tower or Millennium Force. This view thrilled me to such a degree when we went there in years past.

From the parking lot you can see the Millennium Force, Blue Streak, Dragster and Raptor:

This year was no different. We entered the park, and I was thrilled to pieces! My mom had planned out a course of action that would allow us to hit the best rides before the throngs of people arrived at 10am. This plan was foolproof. Until, that is, we walked to the Raptor and learned the ride was closed.

Busting through the gates! You can vaguely see the Raptor, maXair, Farris Wheel, Space Needle and Twister:

We also learned the Millennium Force, generally regarded as the greatest rollar coaster in the world, was closed. The lady who ran the Raptor told us that a few rides were already open, including the Iron Dragon. I've been on it before, and enjoyed it again, the first ride we went on!

We then walked over to the Power Tower. Alas, it too was closed. Just as we were right outside it, the guy announced the ride was opening! We didn't even have a line to wait in! It took us slowly up, and I was terrified. After a few seconds waiting, we dropped like a rock! Did I scream? Yes. But was it an excited scream? No. I was so thrilled and horrified that I just had to yell. Once that was over, we slowly fell the rest of the way. CRAZY RIDE. ;)

We walked over to the Millennium Force, and it was still closed. There was a small line of people who were waiting in line in case it opened. After we joined the line, so did others. We waited for almost an hour, hoping for them to open it. After watching a few test runs, the lady announced, "I'm opening the ride!" We all cheered and were among the first to ride. It was incredible... rated one of the best rides in the world, it is.

Us waiting in line, with the Millennium Force in the background:

Hanging outside after riding:

After that, we got in line to ride the Mantis. It is a ride where you stand up the entire way. It, as the others before it, was very fun!

This is Andrew, Katie, Grace and myself on the Mantis:

The Mantis in the background:

We then walked to the lunch area. It started to rain much harder while we were in there, and it was getting cold! We rode the maXair right after lunch. WOW. The feeling and view from that ride is something I'll never forget. As soon as we finished it, we got in line again! Then, we rode the Twister. That ride is right along the lake; therefore, the winds increased very much. Combining that fact with the heavy rain and cold temperature, IT WAS FREEZING! However, both the maXair and Twister were awesome rides!

We then took the Train Ride around to the back of the park. We hoped to ride the Mean Steak, but it had closed. Instead, we bought ourselves (Katie, Andrew, Grace, myself) an elephant ear to split, and walked back towards the gate to leave. On the way, despite being soaked and freezing cold, we ran through the sprinklers! A great end to an even better day.

When we returned to the hotel, and went in the waterpark again.

Tuesday
We woke up and packed the room. We had to be out by 11am, but could stay at the hotel and waterpark all day. While the adults talked and played games, we went swimming yet again. After that, we decided to go out to Ryan's buffet.

The group picture, in front of a ship design in the lobby:

Eating at the buffet:

Little Bam-Bam, Katie and Amanda:

We drove dropped Barak and Amanda off in Detroit, and went home from there. All in all, this trip was the highlight of 2010, by far. Special thanks to Dawnser and Chuckie, who payed for the trip! Also, thanks be to God for his indescribable blessings! Truly, a blog post cannot capture the amazing time that Cedar Point 2010 was. I just hope I did my best.

God bless, J.J. Biddinger

Easter, Handbells and Fire and Ice: The Sequel!

2010-04-07T02:56:00.008-04:00

Prepare to be amazed! I have for your viewing displeasure the greatest showing of a double post in the history of blogkind.

First of all, the Bendixens came over for Easter weekend, which was also the Sunday our family played handbells for the first time in years! I haven't been that nervous in... years. Anyway, here's lots of goody pictures, and then Part II of this post!

Eleazar, Amity and myself:

Leading candidate for Baby of the Year! ;)

My grandpa, and other family, with her:

Levi and I playing volleyball:

Playing the piano after volleyball (hence the muddy shirts):

Practicing our handbells! (We did pretty well in the performance.)

The Dads (excluding Barak) with Susanna and Amity:

The wait is over! It is time for... Fire and Ice: The Sequel!

I'll finish with lyrics to one of the songs we played.
Here the bells ringing, They're singing that you can be born again, Here the bells ringing, They're singing Christ is risen from the dead.

The angel up on the tombstone, Said He has risen, just as He said, Quickly now, go tell his disciples, That Jesus Christ is no longer dead.

Joy to the word, He has risen, hallelujah, He's risen, hallelujah, He's risen, hallelujah!

God bless, J.J. Biddinger

The Spur-of-the-Moment Trip!

2010-03-10T23:53:00.009-05:00

On Monday, as we drove home from gym class, I was told of Andrew going to the Bendixens, and that he'd asked me to come along. Within minutes of arrival, we packed, got into the car and took off. Talk about a change of plans; in a good way, though! We stayed overnight, and left the next evening.

Andrew and Levi looking at Andrew's new car:

Amity got Andrew really good! :)

The Princess... on the kitchen counter:

Watching a movie:

Andrew and Levi recording parts of a documentary:

Barak and Amanda came to see us!

Amity and myself:

Ele, Bear, Amity and myself took a stroll down the road to the library. Their library is massive! We really need one like that here in Jackson. After finishing up their recording session, Levi and Andrew joined us. Best part of the day! ;)

Drinking coffee and reading at the library:

Playing Uno:

Eating dinner:

Having a music and prayer time before the trip home:

I don't have much else to say about it, except it was great! In case you missed it on Facebook or Twitter, here is my third movie: Fire and Ice!

The message I was trying to convey in the short film is: don't fight fire with fire. Instead, do what Romans 12 tells us: "Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not... Recompense to no man evil for evil... live peaceably with all men. 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay,' saith the Lord. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." Indeed!

God bless, J.J. Biddinger

I'm Out of Lost Words - A Picture Post!

2010-02-23T00:31:00.012-05:00

My last post had too much writing in it. ;) I'll try not to make the same mistake in this post, but here's a little introduction: My family and I stayed at the Bendixens from Friday-Sunday. It was an epicly cool time, so to speak! ;)

Levi, Ele, Andrew and myself. ;)

A joyous welcome celebration:

Watching a family movie:

Watching videos from the Olympics:

Shopping for the latest in car parts. ;)

We had a great blessing time for Amity!

Levi and I drove (alone) to pick up chairs at the As:

All the parents out for dinner (my parents' 26th anniversary!):

I didn't take this photo... but it was taken during home church! :)

This is skit about the Prodigal Son. I come in at 0:55, and was so embarrassed to do it. But, as Clayton said, "Even if you really are that awful, people will still forget about it in a week." ;) Everyone else was fantastic!

The princess, Amity:

Having the baby shower:

Sledding and playing volleyball in the backyard:

Playing Fooseball:

After most of the people left, we had a Risk party:

Jacob and I walked to Walgreens and got some candy that was super-cheap! (It can be seen surrounding the board.)

The Tower of Empty Candy Boxes (all eaten in about an hour). ;)

Praise God for giving us such a great time!

I'll close with something random! My last four blog posts have received exactly 9 comments each. Also, I've written 31 straight posts that received 9 or more comments. Will either streak be broken? That's all in your hands! :)

God bless, J.J. Biddinger

The Craziest Morning of My Life!

2010-02-17T12:32:00.009-05:00

I've been on four ski trips in the last few years, and they've all had things different about them. None, however, have matched the crazy morning we had on the way there. I'm still amazed we ended up skiing at all.

We awoke at 5am, and left an hour later. It's about a 3½ hour drive to get to Caberfae Peaks. For the first hour or so of the drive, everything went smoothly. That is, until my mom looked at the engine gauge and saw it was past the "danger" zone. We had to either get off the highway now, or try to drive to the next exit before the engine blew.

Mom kept saying, "Unblievable... Unbelievable... Unbelievable." We were all praying. We made it to the exit and turned onto the four-lane road. The engine then died, so we pulled off to the side and let the van slide towards the gas station ahead. Andrew and I got out and tried to push.

By this time, everyone in the area had noticed our dilemma. Two guys got out of their cars to help us push. The busy roadway stopped for us to cross it. One of the guys said, "Let's do this!" and we started pushing. Two other guys got out of their vehicles to help us. I was so thankful to them all!

We went into the gas station and started making plans. Many of the people in there answered our questions. They found a phone book and we called some area towers. I thought, "If we get towed, there's no chance we go skiing today." As mom called, I hoped it wouldn't work out. (It turns out she wasn't calling for towing, but just to get machanical help.) The places couldn't help us, so we had to add antifreeze and water to the engine ourselves.

Hanging out in the gas station:

Honestly, I loved this little gas and diner. Everyone knew everyone else by name. The cashier asked some guys who stopped in to add the antifreeze and check the van. They did, and, to my amazement, gave us the go-ahead! Because of their hard work, we could go skiing again!

The guy working on our van:

We started back on the road. The engine temperature gauge, which was at 1/4 full, started to rise. Slowly, it went above the "danger" zone again. It's hard to explain the disappointment I felt. Here we go again, I thought, No skiing and maybe a blown engine.

We pulled onto the shoulder, and it started to drop again. We cruised at a low speed. As we sped up and reentered the highway, the gauge didn't rise! Praise the LORD! It was His will that we go, and He worked it out. We drove and soon met up with the Bendixens. Andrew and I got to ride for the rest of the day with them!

Here's a view from the van:

Me holding Amity!

Personally, the most amazing thing wasn't that we ended up skiing; it was how little late we were. I figured we'd have 3-4 hours left to ski, if we skied at all. We ended up having about 7 hours! God is good!

There's not much to say about the actual skiing. It was soooo much fun. I spent much of the day skiing through a path that led to a small jump! I never fell once on the jump, but I nearly lost my balance several times. It was the first time I'd ever tried jumping, and loved it!

Levi, Jacob and myself:

Jacob, Faith and Andrew in the lobby:

The classic Levish look! ;)

Going up the ski lift:

This is probably my favorite photo of the day:

Jacob was in most of the photos I took, and with good reason: I seemingly spent most of the day with him. After a while, when we'd get on a ski lift together, we'd start talking about something then say, "Wait, we already talked about this, right?" ;)

I only fell once, and it was an intentional fall. I was on the path to get to the ski jump, and it curved me to the left. I was going head-on towards a tree! Thank God for quick reaction, because I forced myself to fall immediately. I slammed into the ground right before the large tree. If I'm going to fall, I'm glad at least there's a good story behind it. :)

Myself, Joe and Jemima:

Levi and Jacob coming off a lift:

Bear, Jemima, Ele, Grace, Amanda and Susanna:

Everyone stopped for Taco Bell, and then we headed home. It was truly a fantastic day, but I won't forget how we got there. It was only through Christ. He allowed us to come. It was through his power that the engine didn't explode and strand us on the highway. Praise Him!

"O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works" (Psalm 105:1-2).

God bless, J.J. Biddinger

My Second Movie: Hide & Seek!

2010-02-12T23:39:00.002-05:00

I finished my second movie: HIDE & SEEK! It took slightly longer to do, but that was mostly because we had to film outdoors. In the cold. Why would I want to film outside when it's warm inside? Exactly.

The cover:

Here's some critical reactions to the movie:
John Smith of the Chicago Fun-Rhymes said gave the film a star, saying, "Haha, very funny." Jane Jackson of The Few Fork Times said, "I've never cherished laughter so much in all my life!" (Whatever that means.) Larry Lewis of the Detroit Me Oppress gave a negitive review, "Come on?! This is pathetic! This move looks like it was made for $10,000" (nobody listens to him anyway).

Here it is! :)

Plus the bloopers!

We're going skiing on the 16th, then going to my in-laws on the weekend for the baby shower! I finished reading In His Steps (awesome book), the reviews above are fake, and I won an autographed copy of the comic book Superheroes. Jeriah's wedding is July 10th. We haven't found out Donnie's date (view the proposal here!). In other words, lots of stuff's been going on. In the midst of it all, you'd better check out Levi's Dangerously long blog post! So let it be written. So let it be done.

God bless, J.J. Biddinger

My First Movie: The Life Changer!

2010-01-31T16:55:00.007-05:00

I directed, wrote and edited my first movie! It was a ton of fun! I named it The Life Changer, because that's what it should challenge you to be!

Plus, I had planned to add bloopers to it, but decided to add them separately! Here you are! Consider this the bonus material! ;)

Hope you enjoyed it! Oh, and my brother (Donald Biddinger) and my brother-in-law's brother (Jeriah Bendixen) got engaged within a day of each other (January 30th and 29th, respectively)! It's so exciting for both of them! That's a lot of exclamation points...! :)

God bless, J.J. Biddinger

An Old-Fashioned Phenomenal Blog Post!

2010-01-23T01:51:00.006-05:00

It's hard to imagine I wrote my first blog post 493 days ago. Almost 500 days! So here for you is a blog post that is totally unlike my early posts. The best way to be old-fashioned is to fashion yourself nothing like the old. Can I get an amen here? ;)

As you can see, I've run out of interesting ways to start my posts. I'll get right to the point. These have been eventful last several days! From Barak and Amanda coming over, to Volleyball starting, to a teen game night at Loomis, it's been a lot of fun!

Andrew and I went to a bowling & pizza Christmas party!

These plastic bags just stuck to the wall... so I took a picture of them. ;)

Playing Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2:

Eating ice cream at Meijer:

Barak, Amanda & Amity came and spent the night!

Huddled around the baby:

Amity and I!

We went walking around in the mall:

Here's something I wrote in an email earlier (skip if you already read it): Do I hate evil? Is something within me stirred whenever I hear someone use God's Name in vain? When someone is obviously lying through their teeth, when a bad song plays in a store, when a commercial or advertisement shows immodesty, do I desire to run from it? Psalms 97:10a says, "Ye that love the LORD, hate evil:" Do I?

If I find myself not hating evil, it's a pretty good indication that my love for God is out of touch. Romans 12:9: "Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good." Proverbs 8:13: "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate." This is what we ought to strive for.

Before Bear & Manda left to go back home, they came with us to a volleyball game at Loomis. Here's a video I took of Barak playing:

Gracie and Susanna:

Tonight (Friday), Grace and I went to a teen game night from 7pm-midnight. We played so many games... Hockey, Upset the Fruit basket, Dodgeball, Soccar, a game where you run towards the center and bring an intertube back to your side, Volleyball, Lightning and Ping-Pong. It was tiring, but a lot of fun. :)

Here's a picture from the end of it:

And so ends your trip through the ruins of my blog. I hope you were as exhilarated as I was. ;) Anyway, may God bless your day tomorrow. Serve Him!

God bless, J.J. Biddinger

♫ La De Da De Da De Da, La De Da ♫

2010-01-13T14:50:00.006-05:00

I've Been Tagged!
Here's how this works:
1. Do quick post about the person that tagged you saying thanks
2. Follow 3 new blogs and list them.
3. Answer the 10 questions
4. Tag someone else
5. Challenge one person to do something fun or crazy

1.I'm supposed to "blog" about the person who tagged me. Kevin (KevinWegnersBlog) is a dear friend of mine who I haven't seen since... mid-October. He's generally really boring, likes hunting, and sits around for most of the day... kidding. ;) He's a fun and cool person that I hope to see again soon. :) Thank you, Kevin.

2. I haven't followed any new blogs lately... perhaps AmyWegnersBlog, BuurmaBoy101 and KatieWegnersBlog, but those we are few weeks ago.

3. Answer all these questions:
Have you ever been to a rodeo?
Actually, yes. It was part of an Alert Cadet program when I was 8-years-old. I remember laughing with my friends at how boring it was. ;)

Have you ever tried to ride a cow?
Not a chance...

Have you ever milked a cow or goat?
Neither... don't plan to either. :)

Have you ever been to a demolition derby?
No; I have not.

What's your favorite country song?
I've never really listened to one, and have no desire to. But, if I had to pick one, I'd probably say "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" by Samuel Francis Smith. ;)

Do you like to hunt?
Never been hunting, and honestly, it looks totally disgusting. :)

Have you ever cooked your breakfast over an open fire in your backyard?
I'm not quite sure why I'd want to.

Have you ever thought that the muck was shallow and when you stepped in it, you sank knee deep?
*sigh* These are so random questions... I'm sure that I have, but it's not exactly something I'd remember.

What is the hardest thing you have ever done?
This is a very tough question. I really don't have an answer to give.

What's one of your most embarrassing moments?
Okay, okay. I've never written this on my blog, but I've told it in real life. It's by far the biggest regret of my life; it's sort of a funny one, though. ;) To help you visualize this, I've created an image to work with it.

On my sister's wedding day, I was an usher, and that included walking grandparents down the isle. There were 350+ people in that auditorium. I have such a vivid memory of it. We hadn't rehearsed where to put the grandparents, so I walked down the isle unknowingly. There was a place I was supposed to put them, but instead I went around the pew! (See image; here's the key.)

As you can see above, the red line gets a lot smaller around the "star". We had to squish through between the musicians and front pew to get to the second pew. I can still see the look on Nate's face as I tried to squeeze by him. It was such an embarrassment! We got through it alright, but it was awful. On top of that, I didn't smile the whole way down or up the isle! :)

4. I'm going to tag: Lucus (Warrior for the King), but anyone can do this. Doesn't it look like so much fun?! (Not.)

5. Here is my challenge. This year, I've started reading the Bible through in a year. It's is such a great thing to do. I did it a few years ago, and then didn't last year. I stopped with the excuse, "I don't like being held to a schedule. This way I can just read whatever I choose." That quickly turned into reading very little at all. If you can, I challenge you start reading the Bible this year (it's not hard to make up a few days). Very little is more important than God's Word.

Psalm 119:11: "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee."
Proverbs 7:2-3: "Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart."

God bless, J.J. Biddinger

I'm Officially An Uncle! +Christmastime 2009!

2009-12-28T13:57:00.006-05:00

My sister, Amanda, had her baby on December 23, 2009, at 7:18pm! She weighed 7lb. 8oz. and 21¾ inches long, and her name is Amity Lee Bendixen! As soon as we heard Amanda was in labor, most of our family to the Bendixens (my mom and sister wanted to be there for the birth). The rest of us stayed at the Bendixens, where we remained until Sunday!

On Wednesday afternoon, I went with Levi and the As to a music special they were to perform at a hospital. They did a fantastic job! Afterwards, we went back to the Bendixens and played an 8-person game of Monopoly. The game was really getting excited... when Mr. Bendixen came downstairs and gave us the news! We rushed over to the apartment to see little Amity!

What a great night that was. We stayed over there until late taking turns holding the baby! Afterwards, we played a game of Risk. I can't remember a lot of the next few days. It's kind of all a blur to me now, but I'll post some pictures of things I do remember. :)

Levi and the As getting ready to play:

Walking through the hospital hallway:

Amity and I:

Nate and Joe played really nice music the whole time. It was great. ;)

Amity and all my sisters;

Andrew and Uncle JC ;)

Donnie and Mr. Bendixen played a 10-hour game of Axis & Allies. (Mr. B and I also played a 5-hour game.)

Opening some presents on Christmas Eve:

We also went to Home Church on Sunday. It was, all in all, a fantastic weekend. I didn't have the camera for that time. This is not my any means an earth-shattering blog post, but it's all I'm in the mood to do. Nevertheless, thank God for the great weekend and for bringing little Amity safely into the world! Here's a fitting end to it all, which I'm sure you've heard before...

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav'nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

God bless, J.J. Biddinger

It's Been Too Long Since...

2009-12-12T23:33:00.006-05:00

...I ate a Klondike Bar. I should really stop cutting back. ;)

You probably thought that I was going to say, "Sorry for not posting!!! It's been too long!" or some other lame cliché. But that's the sort of thing only 14-year-olds do, and I'm much more mature now. Also, 15-year-olds can eat Reese's Klondike Bars. Oh how much 15 is better than 14!

On another note, I'm going to be interviewed for Christian-Movie.com (HOSFU) sometime soon! Follow me on Twitter or befriend me on Facebook to know when it's available. :) In order to complete the interview, I needed a head-shot photo of me. I couldn't find any such photos, so I asked Jemima to take one of me...

Note: All these images are clickable. ;)

This was sort of a "professional" one... but it's not all that great...

This was a more fun photo. :)

Andrew and I went to get water while it was snowing... so cold! This is me:

One final photo. Ever since we put up a chalkboard, we've been drawing things on it. Here is a picture I drew called "The Artist & Miss Rose". Levi drew the tophalf of the board several weeks ago! :D

My sister, Amanda, could deliver had baby any day now! She is due Christmas Eve, but it could be sooner! Praise God for a safe pregnancy thus far! We'll be going down to the Bendixens' house for a few days around Christmastime, so hopefully she'll have delivered by that time. Yay!

I'll finish by saying how great GOD truly is! Psalms 107:1: "O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever." His mercies are new every day and night. Psalms 31:19: "Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!" Well said, Holy Bible, well said. :D

God bless, J.J. Biddinger

Strange Boy In A Strange Land!

2009-10-25T12:46:00.018-04:00

In my last post, I explained that nothing had happened to me lately. It is amazing just how much my blog has impacted my life, and this last week was one of those times! Andrew had been staying at the Coopers/Bendixens for the last few weeks, and I was disappointed not to hear Paul Washer preach last Sunday.

Praise God, my family and in-laws came to the rescue! Washer was speaking at a week-long missions conference, so Amanda and Barak arranged to come to our house after one of the services, spend the night, and take me to Washer the next night! Here is everything that happened starting then, and ending on Saturday when I returned home:

Tuesday
On Tuesday, I decided to go witnessing at the mall. I prayed that God would send me someone to hear the Gospel. After being there for about an hour, I hadn't talked with anyone. So I went into the dollar store to buy some candy. While checking the candy out, I conversed with two guys that I had witnessed to before. They were in line right behind me in the checkout isle. After paying, I began to walk away when one of them stopped me, asking if he could have a dollar. "I haven't eaten anything all day," he said with a bag of unpaid chips in hand.

It is amazing how many things can rush through your mind as you are making a decision. (1) I thought of the possibility he was simply a drug-addict and wanted money for that, but I knew this wasn't true. (2) I thought of what would happen if I just walked away. Finally, (3) I thought of Luke 6:38: "Give, and it shall be given unto you".

I handed him the dollar. However, I then said, "Hey, wait. If you want the dollar, you've gotta take a tract as well." He gladly took both the money and the tract. I was really excited about that as I walked home. Not only was God able to use me to give to someone who was hungry (Matthew 25:35), I was able to be a positive witness of Christ!

Imagine if I had refused the dollar. My testimony with these guys would be gone. They'd consider me just another spoiled, selfish, religious nut who's not worth paying any attention to. But, praise God, He kept me from messing it up! 1 John 3:17 says, "But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?"

As I walked home, I said to God, "Lord, if you'll somehow repay the dollar, it will be such a good testimony of Your power!" So I just prayed and waited. About an hour later, I was online when my mom came downstairs and said, "J.J., do you want to stay at the Bendixens' house for a few days?" Praise the Lord! I had been dying to visit them. I gave a guy a dollar, and God repays by letting me stay here for three days! What an awesome God we serve.

So Barak and Amanda came on Tuesday night, and spent the night at our house! We had a good time, but I don't have any pictures from it.

Wednesday
After spending the morning and afternoon with Bear+Manda, the three of us left to hear Paul Washer speak. He gave such a good and challenging message! In case you haven't heard him, I recommend following him on Twitter or visiting HeartCry Missionary Society. After that, I when to stay at the Bendixens!

Thursday
Thursday was a really productive day. Levi and I worked hard loading four furnaces and other scrap metal into the van, and hauling it to the junk yard. Plus, I got some school done. Finally, I went on three services calls with Bear and Ele! (They did all the work, though. ;))

Levi going to get another air conditioner:

Bear and Ele working hard:

At one point, I sat in the car for about ten minutes. What to do when you don't have anything to do... ;)

Afterward, we hanged out in Levi's room:

On Thursday night, we again went to hear Paul Washer again! And again, it was really good! But, this time, Kevin, Ryan C., Ryan W. and Joel came! We went out to Taco Bell afterwards, and had an awesome time.

Friday
Levi and I walked to Walgreens to pick up some milk:

I was really lazy on Friday afternoon, and didn't get much done. Case in point, me in the blanket. ;)

The As and the Heys came over for volleyball on Friday! We played in the pouring rain... and it was a lot of fun! The As had to leave at 6pm, but the Heys stayed until about 7:30 and ate dinner with us. :D

After volleyball, we played air hockey and fooseball with the Heys:

Some people eating dinner:

We played a really good game of Spoons!

In the end, it was Andrew vs. Victoria (I came in third, and Andrew won):

After they all left, us guys played in the basement:

Saturday
Saturday morning was spent on getting ready to return home for Amanda's baby shower. It was a good morning.

Levi and Andrew playing accordion and packing:

As soon as we arrived at our house, we went inside and saw a bunch of ladies arriving! Like real men, all us guys (minus Barak) jumped in the car in search of a place to hide! :P We all went out to Cottage Inn Pizza, followed by a lot of other places!

Ele at the pizza place:

Mr. Bendixen got a whole pizza with anchovies on it. It was the first time I've ever seen what an anchovy looks like... gross. :P

Reading books at Goodwill:

We went to two dollar stores. This little boy was taking a nap in an odd position. ;)

Levi, Andrew and I took a late-night trip to buy airsoft guns:

Jeriah and Barak, the brother duo. ;)

Bear and Manda played some songs for us, including Lavender's Blue. We had a lot of good laughs in the living room. :D

Ah... what a great weekend it was! There were so many more things I could mention. Ele also posted some good stuff about this. I can't think of a good way to end this, so I'll just say this. God is so awesome. He is incredible beyond belief. His blessings are everlasting. Praise Him for His wonderfulness. Hallelujah!

God bless, J.J. Biddinger

You Want A Post? Fine, Be That Way!

2009-10-17T23:05:00.008-04:00

In case you don't understand the title, read my last post's recent comments. ;)

Alright, if you insist. I'll post. I'm really not opposed to the idea, but there arises a problem. I don't have anything to post about! For the last two months, my schedule has been the same week after week: Monday-Friday is school, Saturday is paper route and Sunday is church. That's about it. However, if I can't post about my life, I'll post about everything else! So here goes. :)

The Redness
I'll begin with an animation I made, called "The Redness". ;)
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My Trip to China
On another note, I have a little story to tell. I wrote this somewhere else, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to share it with you all. I recently had an interesting dream. It was probably the coolest dream I've ever had, and it had a strange feeling to it. I'll tell that story, and then show the spiritual aspect to it.

Before I fell asleep last night, I was reading through a Guinness Book of World Records book, and came across a record that said China had over 14 billion moviegoers every year. It had a picture of a Chinese-language movie on the page, and that really stuck in my mind. I also was praying as I fell asleep, and there were so many things to pray for. My thought was, "God, I don't know what will happen with all these requests, but I'm just going to trust in You." I feel asleep soon thereafter.

I had such a vivid dream. In it, I won an all-expense paid trip to China. As with all dreams, it didn't all make sense. I stayed at the house of a Christian family there, and I remember we went to see the movie Kung Fu Panda at a Chinese theater. (This was, of course, influenced by the Record book I was reading). On a side note, this really shows the things we think about is the things we'll dream about. Back on subject, it was now time to return to America (my dream was simulated). I had to walk back to the Christian family's house, and I had no idea how to get there. I just started walking, and said, "God, I don't know the way, but You do and I'll trust in You."

I kept walking along a dirt road with nothing in site. I, in my dream, truly was trying to follow God and trust Him. I continued walking and there appeared the city where they lived! This may not seem like much, but China is a pretty big country. I ate dinner with them, and soon left for the airport to fly home to America. I didn't know where the airport was, I didn't know when the plane would leave, and I didn't even know what plane I was to go on. I simply knew God had planned for me to go home that day, so I decided to trust Him and look for the airport. I simply needed to follow Him.

Why am I telling this crazy story? Well, for one, it is what is on my mind right now. But also, it has a spiritual application. Isaiah 12:2 says, "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation." In my dream, what would have happened if I had just trusted in my own strength to find the peoples' house, or the airport? Would I have ever found it? Probably not. Proverbs 28:26a says, "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool..." Trusting in ourselves, and our own understanding, will get us nowhere.

In our day and age, there is so much to be afraid of. Jesus was probably speaking of our time when He said, "And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places." (Matthew 24:6-7) There is so much we can be afraid of, but a Christian ought never fear these things!

So today, let me challenge you to put your trust in God. I'm not talking about Salvation; I mean all of your day-to-day trust. Don't worry about your finances, how expensive your clothes are, what people think of you, your future; nothing! God is in control of everything, and "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28) How powerful our God is, that we can simply rely on His Goodness! Praise Him!

The Witnessing Story
I haven't done a whole lot of witnessing lately, sadly. About a week ago, I was writing a devotional about "Preaching the Gospel". As I wrote, God really convicted me of not doing exactly what I was saying to do! It had been cold and rainy out, so I hadn't gone witnessing in a few weeks.

So I got up, put on warm clothes and walked 1/2 a mile in the rain to see if I could find someone to witness to. I knew God wanted me to go. I ended up talking to a man named Bob who believed he needed to (a) prayer a Catholic prayer (a ritual), and (b) live a good life to get to Heaven. Of course, this is not what the Bible says about Salvation, so I was able to share Christ with him right there! He didn't, to my knowledge, get saved, but he certainly was told the Truth and I left him with a Gospel tract. Praise the Lord!

The Photo
I'm in this photo. If you can find me, you win a prize! (Make larger; this contest is specifically designed for certain people with nothing better to do.)

So... that's all for now. I hope you were entertained my animation, exhorted by the dream, motivated by the witnessing story and then died laughing trying to find me in the photo. That way, you won't be around to complain when I don't post for the next few weeks. :D

God bless, J.J. Biddinger

The Greatest Year of My Life... Is Over.

2009-08-13T00:27:00.023-04:00

TODAY, AUGUST 18, IS MY 15TH BITHDAY!!! This has been, by far, the greatest year of my life. This post is composed with three sections: "10 Highlights of Age 14", "Graduation Photos!" and "The Bad News". We'll start with the good news. :D

10 Highlights of Age 14

10. The Green Band

Also known as "The Band That Changed the World", I wore this green band around my arm for several months. I had previously worn another band, but I replaced it with this one.

9. Skiing
Both ski trips (Caferfae and Boyne Mountain) were very memorable; but the only difference is Caberfae had good memories, whereas Boyne had mostly bad (except for driving home). :P

8. Christmas
Christmas was awesome. The Bendixens stayed at our house for four days, and it was topped off with Home Church! :D

7. Thanksgiving

This past year's Thanksgiving was incredible. We did so many things at the Bendixens. It was great!

6. Lake Huron

Probably the most memorable vacation of my life, we went with the Bendixens around early fall to Lake Huron. You read read about it here, but it was just so amazing. :D

5. The Camping Trip

What an awesome time the camping trip was. We stayed at the Coopers' for two nights, and had an incredible time!

4. The Prank
Oh where to begin. "The Prank" (originally titled "The Worst Prank of 2009" ;) was when most of my followers suddenly stopped following me! It was one of the worst days of my life, but you all had a great laugh (and I did eventually). :D

3. National Soul Winning Month (NaSoWiMo)
During July, I committed to God to go witnessing every day of the month (unless I absolutely couldn't). I also attempted to reach National Soul Winning Month's 100 Gospel-sharing conversations, but I feel short. I did go witnessing every day of the month (except for one day, in which I had the flu), but I ended up giving the Gospel to 40 people. I was also able to give tracts to more than 100 people and chat with them for a while, but didn't give them the full Gospel. I could tell so many stories of the people I met, but it was just awesome, and God used it greatly!

2. Uncle! Uncle!

Amanda is having a baby! S/he is due around Christmastime. For the record, it is going to be a girl, but I haven't picked the name out yet. :D

1. Jesus Christ

I was thinking about what my #1 thing would be. I considered most of the above, but Jesus is everything. He gave everything. He is so awesome, and NONE of the above would've happened if not for His Grace and power. Thank You, Lord, for the greatest year of my entire life!

Graduation Pictures!

Since I'm graduating from age 14, into age 15, I figured a brief re-cap of my life was in order. Here goes!

As a baby! (The guy to the left is, of course, Andrew. :P)

Amanda and I. :D

Such awesome times; I'm on the far left:

In the guy in the middle. :P

Playing on the tramp (I'm in the middle-ish again):

I had a good laugh at this one. That is me, swimming, at like 8. :D

Brushing my teeth (eek):

Andrew took this picture of me. Levi and I had a good laugh. :D

This picture is designed to lighten the horror of the previous photo. :P

The Bad News :(

As I said, this has been the best year of my life. But all good things have to come to an end. It is so much fun when people mis-guess my age. I've been asked 'if I'm done with college', 'if I have a wife and kids', and yesterday a lady asked 'if I was my younger sister's father'. :D I love replying by saying, "No, I'm only 14." I don't ever want to turn 15. What fun is saying, "No, I'm 15"?!? It's not fun. It's a waste of a good year. I refuse to grow up. :P

But this is the way God has made me, so I'd better learn to accept it. :) I would, however, like to say my favorite line one final time:

Oh, and there's one more thing I must do. Ya'll know that picture of me that I always use? Well, I've become as sick of it as the rest of you are. So... goodbye, Mr. Ugly Photo. :P

God bless, J.J. Biddinger

Yet Another Crazy Time At The Bendixens

2009-07-13T20:03:00.019-04:00

For my parents' 25th wedding anniversary, my siblings and I decided to send them on a "Honeymoon", which took place last weekend. This, of course, is a perfect opportunity to go to the Bendixens! We did just that. I stayed with the Bendixens from Wednesday–Monday, while my younger sisters stayed at Barak & Amanda's house. Here's everything that I remember happening:

First of all, here's a picture of my parents on their "Honeymoon":

Wednesday
In the late afternoon, my Mom drove us down to Barak and Amanda's apartment, where we were soon joined by all the Bendixen family. I didn't have the camera all weekend, but I managed to collect these photos (and any more in this post) from other peoples' cameras.

Levi and I, at Bear & Manda's apartment, the first night:

Surrounding the cell-phone's wonderful glow. :P

Surrounding the computer's wonderful glow. :P

Couches sure do fit a lot of people. :)

Thursday
Thursday and Friday were very similar days. Both days we Levi and I up at around 7am. Both days we went to the fair. Both days we attempted to witness to people. But the two days had one substantial difference. You see, at the fair, they had a "bottomless" cup of chocolate milk. You simply gave them back the cup and they'd refill it for you. The one difference between the two days, as I found out, was that on Thursday I had 6 refills, but on Friday I only had 5. :P

In reality, the two days were very similar, at least at the fair. Thursday was a good day, but I can't remember much of anything to mention. :D

Myself, Susanna and Plyllissa:

Friday
As I said, Friday was nearly the same as the previous day had been. The fair went very well, and I was able to witness to around five people (whereas only about two on Thursday). Levi had been asked if he would play his accordion at a dinner event. Afterwards, the lady who had asked him to do it, who we learned was something like the fair Secretary, asked if he would also play the National Anthem for the Monster Truck Rally that night!

We had already planned to go to a friends' birthday partly after the fair, so he wasn't able to do it, but she told him he might be able to do it Saturday night. We left and went to the Rothenhauser's house for dinner and games. We played several games of the Name Game, and then Bible trivia. I met some new friends, and we had a very, very fun time.

The girls stayed at Bear & Manda's apartment all weekend. Here are some pictures they took:

Eating breakfast, or maybe lunch, or perhaps dinner. Who knows? :D

Amanda by the pool:

Bear, Susanna and Phyllissa swimming:

Susanna and Phyllissa playing in the blankets. ;)

Saturday
Late Saturday morning, Mr. Bendixen took Levi and I to a music store for us to pick up sheet music for the National Anthem. He practiced that from that point on, until we prepared to leave for the fair at around 1pm.

The day went along as the previous two days had done; hundreds of little kids heard the Gospel! Levi had kept practicing his song throughout the day. Not only did the lady say he was going to be playing, Levi asked if all of us could get into the Figure 8 Race. She said yes, and offered to drive us all into it on her golf cart.

Levi played The Star Spangled Banner in front of up to 2,000 people! It was so nerve-racking. I 100% enjoyed watching the race. NASCAR, in my opinion, is so boring because you just wait and wait for your favorite car to come into view, 300+ times. In these races, you got to watch the cars slam into each other and fight for the win. :D

The next four pictures are used on behalf of James Johnson. :D

Jeriah at the race! :P

The group sitting on the grass:

This crash got the whole crowd laughing. Two cars had died next to each other, with a car-wide gap in between. Another car tried to squeeze in between them, but he was stuck as well! The other two cars took turns ramming into them, trying to break a way to finish the race. :P

Sunday
While driving us to the Coopers' house on Sunday morning for church, we were fairly early and decided to stop at Lake Huron and walk along the beach. I was somewhat disappointed because the Cooper family basically lives in the middle of nowhere, so we wouldn't be able to go witnessing with the other Home Church teens. I had promised God that I would go witnessing every day in July, unless I absolutely could not, and I had kept it until that date. But, God gave me the perfect opportunity, as there was a guy sitting down with his dog at the beach! I gave him the Gospel, and it put me in a great mood for the rest of the day!

We, even though we stopped at the beach, arrived before everyone else. During church, Mr. Bendixen told us that we should be searching for two main things when we read the Bible: Jesus, and love. That began some very good spiritual discussions, which I really enjoyed. After church, we didn't have a volleyball net, and I'm glad we didn't. For the rest of the day, I did two main things; play ultimately girls' football, and play with the younger kids.

As far as girls' football goes, I enjoyed it more than any other games of it I've played. But that's because I stayed on defense the whole game, so I'd intercept any long throws they made. (And I don't understand why they kept throwing them; I caught/deflected every one! :D) Plus, the other team never put a defender on me, so from time to time I would run to the other end zone, being wide open, and caught a touchdown pass. It was a good time. :D

But my person highlights of the day was playing with all the church kids! They are just so awesome. They tickled me, I pushed Lem and Luke around on the cars, I played catch with them, and I believe I spent more than half of the day with them. :D Us teens also did human pyramids, and that too was a pretty good time! God is so awesome; He blessed us with an amazing day! On the way home, we picked up some White Castle burgers, and I had my first ever. As soon as we returned home (about 8:45pm), Levi and I went witnessing, and he had a really good talk with a couple.

Joe, Ryan C., Levi and Ethan doing a group push-up (thanks to Leah):

Monday
On Sunday, Levi and I woke up at 8am and were called into devotions. That entire time, I couldn't keep my eyes open. I had one objective once we were through with prayer; that was to charge into Levi's bed. To my surprise, Levi was laying in his couch next to the bed cuddled into his blanet. "I'm pulling a J.J.", he said. :P We went back to sleep, and didn't get up until a little after noon. :D

We awoke, and soon found ourselves cleaning out their van, which took just under an hour to do. We then biked to , and I was able to share the Gospel with Chad, although I sped through it too much. We needed to return to the Bendixens then, because Barak and Amanda were wanting to leave. On the way home, I began reading One Thing You Can't Do In Heaven, which is a great book. I'm really starting to like 1 Corinthians 9:16:

For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!

Barak and Amanda decided to spend the night at our house! The only significant even I remember happening is a great game of Balderdash. I'm beginning to love the game; not because I get last place every time, but because it makes you laugh so much! :D We all went to bed, and I can't remember anything special happening the next morning. They left in the late afternoon.

There I go again. I did an entire post solely on facts. I said, "We did this, then did that," and "We went here, then went there." Yes, the things we did, the people who heard the Gospel, the places we went, and so on, but I didn't do a very good job of explaining the actual experiences, and how it felt. It was just amazing. Phenomenal. Astounding. Something I'll never forget...

...enough of the sappiness. It was a good time. :P

The Longest Post of My Entire Life

2009-06-25T00:53:00.028-04:00

Before you read this post, note that it's the longest post of my entire life. The words alone total 3108, which is more than double the lengh of my next longest post. Because it is that long, it is also very poorly written. I don't feel like proof-reading it, so it's pretty bad writing. And in case you haven't already, read The Camping Trip - A Nightmare Tale (a joke) first. :P

What a week. Wowser. I have so much I could write about, I don't know where to begin. Several months ago, Ryan Cooper first told me about the camping trip he was planning. I soon became determined to get our family–or at least some of us– to come along. God worked it out very well, and Andrew and I, after much preparation, were able to go! I'll get right to what happened each day of the week-long vacation:

Thursday
It was such an exciting time! The camping trip would begin the next day, but before that, we decided to go over to some peoples' house for a Bible study/sports/dinner. I had never met these people before. My Mom and Grace came along for the night. We arrived and began playing volleyball almost immediately. After lots of games, it was time for dinner.

After dinner, us seven guys played a game of football (and Home Church, this was not girls' football :P). As it began to get dark, we went inside for a Bible study Levi had prepared out of the Book of Jonah. We mostly talked about how we, in modern days, don't literally board a ship in the opposite direction as where God wants us, but we create distractions to help us avoid God's will. After an hour or so of that, Mom and Grace left for home, and we soon left as well.

Ele, Andrew, Levi and I decided to get a late-night movie to watch. We ran over to Blockbuster, but they were closed, so we rented one from Kroger. It was a pretty good movie, and we had a good time watching it. Soonthereafter, we all went to bed.

This is me, getting the movie at Kroger:

Friday
We woke up and had devotions, and Mr. Bendixen told us the As would be coming over at 11:00 (which was moved to 11:30) to play volleyball. Before their arrival, Andrew, Levi and I went to Kroger again to put up supplies for the camping trip. I was glad we were able to see the As, as they didn't go on the camping trip. We played volleyball for much of the time, and they left at around 2:15.

Checking things out at the store:

Playing volleyball:

Hanging out in the kitchen:

As soon as they left, we got straight to packing! We loaded and packed up everything. At a little past 3pm, us five guys (Levi, Ele, Andrew, Jeriah and I) loaded into Ed (the van) and set out northward for the Coopers. It was a really fun drive. We joked and laughed and I really enjoyed it.

We stopped at Jimmy John's before arriving:

At around 5pm or so, we arrived at the Coopers and were surprised (or at least I was) that we were the first there. Ryan C. drove us to the camp site on "the Gator", and we began to set up tent.

Rosie and Seth:

Levi holding onto the back of the Gator:

We found this baby, dying raccoon:

We were total city slickers. This is me (and Ele) with my and Andrew's big suitcases. :P

Once we were all set up and no one else had yet arrived, we decided to go walking through the woods. I followed Ryan C. along the steep edge of a cliff (or whatever you want to call it :P ) along the river. At one point, I lost my footing and could only hold on with one hand! I was this close to falling down into the river, but I held on long enough to move forward. :)

Ele, Ryan C. and Levi hiking along the river:

Climbing in the sand:

We did that for a little while, and then the Wegners arrived! We greeted and walked back to the camp site. They brought their volleyball net, so we quickly set that up. As we played, people started arriving: they Carrigers, then Heyworths, and also some people which I didn't know. Throughout this time, people were chatting and having a great time, and I 100% enjoyed it.

This was the view right next to the volleyball net:

People preparing for a game:

At around 9:30pm, we walked back down to the campsite. People sat around the campfire, played games, talked and hit the volleyball around. As it was nearing time for the Wegners to leave, several of us teens decided to go play more volleyball before they left. We all walked back to the net and started playing. They left sometime before 11pm.

Sometime during this time, the camera started to only take blurry pictures. I didn't know why. So all the pictures from the next day and Monday will be semi-blurry, and I didn't get a single picture from Sunday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Don't worry; we had 20 people with cameras taking pictures of every little thing all trip long. :P

At this time, it started to rain pretty hard. Thankfully, the Bendixens had brought their canopy, so we stayed dry under that. Until past 1am, we played a naming game, which was very fun as everyone sits around in a group. These are the best sorts of games. It was a really awesome day.

Holding Lem over the fire! :P

Driving the Gator:

Around the campsite at night:

Saturday
On Saturday morning, we went to the Coopers' house, had breakfast, and hung out for a long while. It was such an awesome time because, in the back of my head, I knew I had the whole day in front of me. Here are pictures from it:

Having breakfast (blurry):

Ryan C. and Jordan showed me their "real" gun. :P

We had a good talk in the living room:

Ryan C. and Andrew:

Sometime in the mid-morning, all us teens were hanging out, talking, playing, etc. in the Coopers' basement. We Home Church guys hug each other a lot, so I wasn't surprised when Kevin and Ryan C. both hugged me, saying "group hug." Little did I know their secret plan. I looked around and the girls on the other side of the room were looking at me and whispering. I thought it was a little quirky, but it's something I can live with. :P :P

I went upstairs to take my shoes off. When I returned to the downstairs, everyone was looking at me. Ryan C. began, "J.J...", then all of the people started laughing at me! I felt a piece of paper on my back, and it read, "I'm a geek. Please laugh." And so they did. (In case you missed it, that is what I said what would happen in my last post. :P) I smiled so big; on the outside and in. I have the greatest friends in all the world. :D

Sitting on the fence ("no pun intended"... right...) :P

Mr. Ca. telling the kids a story:

Walking through the woods:

In the afternoon, much of us gathered around the campfire. We were singing such awesome songs. I was hold Luke in my arms, and Rosie was sitting in a small chair next to me. We were playing and singing at the same time. It was just so once-in-a-lifetime, precious. As all this was happening, I honestly was close to have tears fall. It is something I'll never forget. Wowser. :D

The only other thing of the day that sticks in my memory was playing jailbreak at nighttime. I hid with Jessica, who is one of my newest little friends, and we had a pretty good time talking while hiding. She was finally caught, and so was I. We played a ton of volleyball that day, and also a long game of girl's football (a.k.a. Ultimate Football). :P

Late into the night, we sat around the campfire playing a game. At sometime after 1am, most of the group had gone to bed. That is, except for Andrew, Ele, Levi, Jeriah, Ethan, Jacob and I. It was so late. We were being very obnoxious, but it was just too great of a time not to be! :P

Sitting around the campfire; playing a game:

Sunday
On Sunday we woke up and went to the Coopers' house soonthereafter. In some ways, this was my favorite day of the weekend, but I did not get a single picture of it, as I didn't have the camera. Before church started, we played a few games a volleyball. Then we had church around the campfire. It was truly amazing. Very good discussions, Mr. A read a good sermon about The Prodigal Son, and phenonenal music.

After church, we walked back to the volleyball court and played several games. All weekend long, I had played so terrible, probably the worst of my life. For the first time in my life, I hated volleyball. I was playing so bad, I asked if I could play in the back-left corner, which no volleyballs ever come to. That's just what was happening. I was so sick of it. I honestly considered walking off the court without my team, as I wasn't playing, and when I did play, I'd totally mess up.

We stopped to have lunch. We decided to play Sardines, where someone goes and hides in the woods, and everyone searches for that person. When they find him, that person hides with the person until everyone has found him. I'll be honest: there are some games which I just hate. Girl's football is one, jailbreak is one, and Sardines is another. Basically, here's how the games went: I started off looking for this person who's hiding. Looking for someone who's not trying to be found can be very frustrating. On top of that, all the game is that you walk through the woods, along. Where's the fun in that? I hope I've made myself clear. :P

All afternoon, we had been deciding whether or not we wanted to see Katie's tour group sing at a church less than a half hour away from the Coopers' house, at 6:30. We ended up opting to go, so we needed to pack quickly. Sadly, after saying goodbyes that was the end of the camping trip, In writing this, I didn't make it sound very good, but it was – it was awesome. We drove off and went to the church where Katie was singing. The whole sermon, we all were laughing like crazy (sometimes not because of the pastor, though... :P). After that, we went out to Big Boy for dinner. Yet again, it was an awesome day.

Monday
The weekdays are beginning to blur together as the week passes on. I can only remember a few things from Monday. After doing service calls and routine things, Andrew, Levi and I decided to stop and see Amanda, and then walk to the park to go witnessing. When we stopped at her apartment, we weren't planning on staying long, but I'm glad we did. While Levi and I did her dishes, Andrew set up The Game of Life and we started playing.

Playing Life:

Guess who won?!? Yep! It was me. :) I bought the most luxurious things I could possibly buy all game long (starter house, investments, home, millionaire estates, etc.), and I won by about $500,000. That's my sort of game play. :) We left there at sometime past 5pm, and biked to the park. It was the same park we had went to with the Home Church a year before. That was the first time I had ever, ever given out a tract. I remember it so vividly. :D

Before long, we noticed a young-adult guy sitting on a bunch, and we decided to walk with our bikes up to him. Levi gave him a tract, and us four chit-chatted for a minute. To my surprise, Levi said something like, "Well, it was nice talking to you. Have a nice day," and we started to walk away. I didn't understand why Levi wanted to end the conversation. I asked him, and at that time it dawned on me that I should personally do and talk to the guy alone. Levi and Andrew went on a head, and I walked back to the guy.

He was reading a book, so that gave me a good conversation starter. After talking with him for several minutes, I was able to give the full Gospel. I'm not sure if he was saved or not, but it didn't seem so. Pray for him, if you will, his name is Chase. I said goodbye, and went on to find who Levi and Andrew were talking to. To my right was the beach volleyball court, and to the left was several walk ways. I decided to check left first. I biked along, but didn't see them. I went right.

As I neared the volleyball court, I saw a bunch of guys playing. The horrible thought occurred to me that two of them might be Levi and Andrew! What a terrible idea; there's no way it could be true. Well, as their faces came into focus, my theory was correct: Levi and Andrew had skipped witnessing and were playing volleyball. I joined in the game, to make the teams even. I must say, I was disappointed that our witnessing trip turned into a volleyball trip – I had come on a mission.

The beach volleyball court:

We played three games of volleyball, and I did fairly well the whole time. Levi tried to walk to some of the guys afterwards, but we only had the opportunity to give one of the a tract. I don't remember anything special that happened that night.

Tuesday
I am beginning to forget everything we did on Tuesday. That is, until the evening time. At about six, Mrs. Bendixen, Andrew, Levi and I got together and schemed out something fun to do. I'm so glad we did it. With Mr.'s approval, we decided to invite people over with the excuse of eating ice cream and watermelon. :P

Ele, Levi, Andrew and I ran to Kroger to pick up some more ice cream, and ended up getting 10 cartons! The Heyworths, Matt and Clayton Rothenhauser all were able to come. Matt and Clayton arrived first, so we sat around in the living room chatting. After it was now 15 minutes past the said arrival time, Mr. Bendixen decided to call the Heyworths and see where they were. They said they were only a few streets away, so I initiated us all hiding from them. We ran outside and hid, but Levi had to give away the hiding place! Levi, Levi, Levi... what ever will we do with you? :P

But hey! I'm not complaining! As soon as they arrived, we started playing volleyball. Whoever invented the game deserves $100 and a barnstar! :P We played for a while, then breaked for ice cream, watermelon and talking. We then went outside for a storytelling time! Once again, we played volleyball! We played it until 11pm, when people left. It was a great night!

Wednesday
While some people went on service calls, I stayed home, and did miscellaneous things. The biggest was rake up leftover grass from the yard. At 1pm, Levi and Andrew returned home and we biked straight for the park to meet up with two boys Levi had previously witnessed to. As we were biking on the sidewalk, Andrew turned down a wrong street, so Levi followed saying, "Andrew, it's the next street..." I wasn't sure if I should stop and wait for them to return and go to the next street, or to follow them. I was going fairly fast.

I somewhat turned onto the street, but without making a complete turn. I was headed straight for the curb if I didn't stop immediately! I put on my breaks, but it didn't do any good as I was going too fast with too little time to stop. My front tire pounded into the curb's ridge. My body flew backwards off the bike and I tilted somewhat head-first onto the road. I slid along my right side and now have cuts on my ankle, knee, hip, elbow and shoulder. I also hit my head very hard and was partly dazed for the remainder of the day.

After a car stopped by and asked if I need them to call 9-11 (I said no), we continued on to the park, cuts and all. When we arrived, I stopped at a bathroom to check if I had any extremely bad wounds. I didn't so I exited and found Andrew was hiding from Levi with the two guys we had come to meet. Let me quote from my last post:

I ... went face-first into a sharp rock [the road]. I could feel some cuts on my face, which left red marks for several weeks [it has!]. I was going to be meeting some new people [the two guys]! What a good first impression. It hurt a lot [it did].

That's exactly what happened! My post came true! :P Once Levi joined us, we threw the Frisbee around for a while. We stopped that and began a conversation about spiritual things. It was a good discussion.

At around 2:30, we were heading back when we passed the pool next to Bear and Manda's apartment. Someone yelled, "Hey!", and it as Katie (my sister)! I was amazed to see her. My Mom was behind her and my little sisters were swimming! I was so shocked–and excited– to see them. There weren't many people at the pool, particularly immodest people, so Levi, Andrew and I changed into our (modest :P) swim clothes and went swimming. I'm just not a fan of swimming, so I hardly swam at all.

After that, we packed everything into our van and began our drive to see Katie's tour group sing at a church. While there, I met a little girl named Amanda (and her sister Emily and brother Trevor), and we became friends. :D (Read this post regarding little kids. :D) It was a really good service and singing. Afterwards, we went out for ice cream, and had a good time with that. We drove home, and so ends my week long trip. :D

Thanks for reading through this long post! It is my longest ever, which suits the trip, as it is the longest vacation I've ever had. Wowser. It's so hard to explain something like last week with words. It was just so amazing, phenomenal and outstanding. Katie's tour group sang a song titled I Have Been Blessed. Is it ever true. :D

God bless, J.J. Biddinger

The Camping Trip - A Nightmare Tale

2009-06-17T14:38:00.008-04:00

Tomorrow, I will be going on the first very first camping trip of my life! I am so very excited. Of course, this won't be my first time sleeping in a tent or anything, but I've never been on an actual trip where we would be camping with friends.

Needless to say, the trip turned out as I expected. It was awful. Here's what happened:

On Thursday afternoon, my Mom was planning on driving Andrew and I down to the Bendixens, where we would be staying until the following Wednesday. I had hoped to leave around 3pm, but, as the story of my life goes, we never leave on time. At 3:30, as we were nearly heading out the door, the basement started to leak because of all the rain we've been getting. Mom assigned me the job of sweeping it all up with our shop vac. What a great day to start the best weekend of my life! I worked for hours on that, so we didn't leave until nearly 8pm!

We arrived at the Bendixens and found they were all in bed. Very welcoming to their guests! I thought. I had to sleep on the floor, without a blanket. Andrew had selfishly taken both the comfortable place to sleep and my blanket. I couldn't get to sleep all night long; although it hadn't been a great day, I was excited about how awesome the camping trip was going to be!

I waited... and waited... and waited... it was nearing noon and I didn't know if I should get up, or just stay in bed like everyone else. Levi stirred, stood up and yawned. 'Bout time! I wispered. I couldn't believe what he did next. He got out of bed, went to the bathroom and then went back to sleep. What?!? I was getting restless, laying there for nearly twelve hours. I figured the best thing to do was quote Bible verses and pray, so I did that for over an hour.

I had hoped to be leaving early, but they just wouldn't get up. I was relieved when Levi's parents announced it was time for devotions. Ele began with prayer, then talked about the importance of getting up at a decent hour if a person wants to be blessed. He quoted Proverbs 6:9: "How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?", and also Proverbs 20:13: "Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty..." I couldn't believe what he was saying! Ele! You didn't get up until after 2pm!!!

Afterwards, I was really hoping to leave soon. I asked Barak if everyone was ready, and he seemed surprised I'd even think of heading off so soon. "Well, J.J., we have a few service calls to do, and then we'll go. Okay?" I decided to accept it, hoping it we would be done within an hour or so. Little did I know, one of the jobs was going over to a friends' house to push a red button, and the other was a chimney job which turned out to be a total frustration. It was after 6pm, and we were finally done! I was excited, that is, until Jeriah decided we should cook up a quick barbecue, as we wouldn't want to spend extra money to pick up something on the way. So Jeriah and Ele worked for over an hour getting dinner on the table. I was grateful for it, but it took such a long time.

After wanting to leave all day long, we packed up Ed (the van) and were on our way! Levi had heard about my disappointing time thus far, and wanted to make me feel better by letting me sit by him. How thoughtful! After driving for a few minutes, I began to get very, very sleepy. I hadn't slept in 30+ hours. But, because of the Levi's "consideration", I was squished in between Andrew and Levi, of which talked the entire time. I only fell asleep towards the end. As I awoke, everyone was unloading the van, and most everyone else was surrounding Ed, greeting our group.

For the first time in a while, I actually felt like smiling. Ryan Cooper and I locked eyes. I stumbled out of the van, still half asleep, walked towards him and gave him a hug. Everyone, and I mean everyone, burst out laughing, but I didn't know why! I felt something paper-ish on my back and grabbed at it. It was a note which read, "I'm A Geek. Please Laugh." I was furious. This was the worse day of my life, and now someone had to go and embarrass me like this! I looked around and saw Kevin looking very suspicious. For the first time in my life, I just wanted to take him down. Storming over to him, I planned on hitting him square in the face. But that didn't happen.

Rachel stuck out her foot and caught me very much off guard. I tripped and went face-first into a sharp rock. I could feel some cuts on my face, which left red marks for several weeks. I was going to be meeting some new people! What a good first impression. It hurt a lot. I began crying out in pain, and walked straight back to the van. Andrew and some others put together our tent. As soon as that was up, I grabbed my stuff and shamefully walked for the tent, staying there for the rest of the night.

For at least an hour, I heard the laughs and singing of everyone around the camp fire. A few times, my name was mentioned, followed by some girls' voice giggling, "Did you see him crying? I almost wanted to laugh." Ryan Wegner repeatedly told them to be quiet. "He can probably hear us," was his reasoning. I couldn't take it anymore. I fell right to sleep.

The next morning, I awoke worriedly, thinking I may have slept in. I checked my watch. It read 10:05, so I wasn't worried, considering the time the Bendixens had got up the previous morning. After lying there for less than half an hour, I decided I should get everyone together and apologize for what I had done. I sat up, but Andrew wasn't in his sleeping bag! I shot out of the tent and found the campsite nearly abandoned. Mr. Heyworth and Mr. Cooper were sitting off to the left talking.

I, still in my pajamas, asked them, "Where is everyone?" They seemed shocked to see me. "Good morning, J.J. Wait, what are you doing here. They left you?" They left me? I stood, puzzled. Mr. Cooper decided to explain. "Last night they decided to hike the mountain over there. I figured everyone knew about it, but they must've forgot you." Either they forgot me, or just didn't care. I stood there, not knowing how to respond. "Well, what time did they leave?" was all I could muster. "Hmm... I think it was right about 10:00," came the reply. No, no, no... I missed them by five minutes.

You can imagine my frustration. I am writing this from Mr. Heyworth's laptop, and tears are literally falling down my cheeks. It's nearly 5pm on Saturday, and the others still aren't back. I don't know what I'm going to say to them when they arrive. This was the worst day of my life, and all I want to do is go home.

If you could keep me in prayer, I'd really appreciate it.

Oh, and in case the missed it, the above is all a joke. :P

The Funeral & Making An Impact

2009-06-09T20:41:00.013-04:00

In conclusion of my last post titled Goodbye, Precious Jonathan, I had planned to write a "sappy" post saying how sad today was, Jonathan's funeral. Indeed, it was a mournful day – both his funeral, and first birthday. But it wasn't as sad as I expected. During the funeral service itself, nearly every second of Mr. Wegner's speaking or the beautiful birds chirping, was accompanied by sniffles and the saddened spirit of everyone.

As we stood around the casket, praying, singing and remembering, people weren't actually despairing. We were sad, of course, but still had hope in our Savior. Jonathan is in Heaven now, and that's something to rejoice about. Both during the service, and afterwards when we went to the Wegners' house, others said several things like this: "Jonathan is in Heaven now because he completed everything he was called to do on Earth." This made me think: What did Jonathan complete on Earth?

This is a question a Wegner would have the best answer to. I only met Jonathan once in my life, but his life taught me several things. I have been thinking about this a lot, and here are three things his life, though not a year old, taught me:

Value of others. The main thing that caused me to mourn over all this was not that Jonathan died, but how much pain his family must have (and will) go through. I cannot imagine it. Then I think, "What would happen if one of my siblings (or someone else close), were to die today? What regrets would I have?" It is a motivational though; would I want this to be the last thing I say, or do, to them? Ephesians 4:32: "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."
God's Power. As we sat around talking behind the Wegners' house, one of the Home Church days in March was brought up - the Sunday when we anointed Jonathan's head with oil. In the weeks after, God worked a miracle in Jonathan and amazed the doctors. This was probably the biggest showing of God's omnipotent power that I have ever experienced, but, Lord willing, it won't be the last. :D James 1:5-6a, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering..."
Preciousness of Life. Life is so precious, and I need to treat as if this is my last day to live. I have always had the mindset of, "I have a whole life ahead of me to prepare for," when, in fact, I could be taken away in "the twinkling of an eye." I need to not take life for granted; only God knows what the future will bring.

If Jonathan could make such an impact in less than a year (and I'm sure others were impacted by his life), what is our excuse for achieving even less for God in many years? I am the best example of this. As Ryan C. said during our discussion, we need to find out what our mission for God is and give our all for it. Today, both at the funeral and afterwards, inspired me to put more of my focus on God. I am forever greatly for this day.

Hebrews 3:13:
"But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin."

It was just an amazing day. I was also able to talk to so many people for the first time in awhile. Here are a few pictures from at the Wegners' house:

Ryan Cooper :D

The main area:

Some of us while talking:

It's late, so I must be going to bed. Good night all, and...

God bless, J.J. Biddinger

Goodbye, Precious Jonathan

2009-06-06T16:39:00.007-04:00

Most of you have probably already heard the news: Jonathan Wegner, not yet a year old, went to Heaven last night. He was just such a precious little boy. Here is what I wrote about him in my post titled The Greatest Day of Home Church Yet!:

Also before communion, we anointed the baby Jonathan with oil. As you probably know, he has had bad problems lately, and many people have been praying for him. Praise God, he has been doing very much better! (Though he is still losing weight.) We'll see what God will do!

[...]

I was able to hold Jonathan for the first time ever. I loved it. :)

Now that he is gone, I am even more so glad I was able to hold him. He is no doubt in Heaven with our Savior, Jesus Christ, forever and ever rejoicing. Please pray for the family as not only are they grieving over their loss, but they must experience the stress of planning a funeral. His first birthday was going to be on Wednesday. They truly need prayer.

Matthew 5:4:
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Here is the last picture of Jonathan, originally posted on Twitter:

There are many other posts on this: Kevin's original post, Josh's, Rachel M.'s, The Believers Gathering and Ryan W.'s long post with the whole story (highly recommended). Kevin said he is planning on posting a tribute to Jonathan, also. Again, please keep the Wegner family in prayer.

Psalm 10:17
LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:

God bless, J.J.

Clichémania - It's An Art

2009-05-28T20:16:00.009-04:00

I've written tens of posts on this topic, and most begin with something like... "On Friday, the Bendixens came over to our house..." This is indeed true for this post, but I will not begin with that, as I have created my own cliché and it must be put to an abrupt end. Goodbye, cliché beginnings, goodbye. :D

Anyways, on Monday, Memorial Day, the Bendixens came over to our house in the afternoon. Andrew soon had to leave for work, but we played volleyball before then!

In between volleyball games:

Levi was stickered! =)

After that, most all of us went on a bike ride! It was as beautiful outside as the day is long. :P

This is a short video of us on the way there:

The long, paved and narrow path ;)

As we were biking, and when we would stop and rest, we greeted people who passed us by saying Hello, How Are You? It was very fun. :D

We stopped around this bridge and looked around:

Levi had just jumped off the edge:

Jeriah hanging off the edge:

We returned and had dinner, then went back outside with ice cream:

Levi playing golf in the backyard. Needless to say, he was not too shabby:

We had played volleyball for most of the day, so we decided to play [real] football! (Note: I did not say "Ultimate Football", which I have no clue is called football as you cannot use your feet whatsoever. :P ). At around nine, we went inside to sings songs, and the the Bendixens soon left:

I began this post with a cliché, andI believe you should finish what you start. :P (As Philippians 1:6 says, "...he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:") Anyways, I admit this post wasn't as good as gold, but please enjoy it. You never know, you may be here today, but gone tomorrow. :D

God bless, J.J.

I'm Going To Be An Uncle! (+Sunday Pictures!)

2009-05-16T02:22:00.009-04:00

On Friday, Bear, Manda and Ele came to our house, because we hadn't seen them in several weeks. Or so we thought that was why. Soon after their arrival, while we were all in the living room, Manda broke the news as follows: "Well, you all need to be especially nice to Susanna this year... because this is her last year to be the baby of the family." We all paused, not fully understanding. She finished, "What I mean by that is Barak and I are having a baby!" For a video of our reaction, see Andrew's and Ele's posts.

It's true! It's true! It's true! I'm going to be an uncle! Barak and Amanda are having a baby! It is so exciting! I could go on, but enough exclamation marks! =)

On Sunday, we went down to Indiana to see Katie's tour group concert. We left in the morning and didn't get back until like 1:30am at nighttime! It was a long, but very good, day. Here are so pictures/videos we took. =)

Some of the girls with Emily:

We went to Donnie's new home, and here's us swinging on a bench:

Playing on the swing:

Andrew was taking a bunch of photographic pictures of me. :P

Donnie gave us a new pair of classes. =)

In the afternoon, I was hanging around in the lobby and this one little girl was smiling running around the desk hiding from me. I decided to talk to her, and I made a new friend. :D

Andrew took this cool picture of Katie from above:

All the groups singing:

It was a really fun day! But even better, I'm... oh... I suppose I've already said this... but I'm Going To Be An Uncle!

God bless, J.J.

When Duty Calls

2009-05-09T21:27:00.003-04:00

Although I have no clue what God has planned as far as a a future occupation goes, I consider myself an aspiring Christian writer: that is, I want to learn to write as a tool for my life. But of course, I have a higher calling as a Christian: to, as Mark 16:15 says, "....Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." A few hours ago I went on my paper route, and here's what happened:

I've worked on my paper route for several years. It takes around an hour, therefore is only a small burden. Although it's work, it can, as I've been learning, be a great witnessing opportunity. It was the most beautiful day out today, as I went on the route with my sister, Grace. As I prepared to leave, I inserted several tracts into my pocket, with the hopes of giving them out during the route. I was very excited! There are a total of six "half" streets on the route, and for the first two, I didn’t see a single person.

As many of you know, I adore little kids. They are so innocent, cute, fun and easily entertained. Bigger kids are cool as well, I suppose, but for some reason, littler kids just awaze me. (In my opinion, "kids" is a better word than "children", as most people associate it with being "childish", or foolish, which I don’t consider them.) As I was walking along the third street, I saw a group of younger kids riding bikes around the sidewalk. I was carrying some kids' tracts!

I prayed that God would give me the courage and opportunity to give one of the kids a tract. There were four of them - three girls and a three-or-so-year-old boy with reddish hair. As I walked up to the house, I said 'hello' to one of them. The girls seemed to bike in different directions, but the boy didn’t. Even after leaving a paper on the porch, he stayed in his toy car on the sidewalk.

What a perfect chance! He was just sitting there looking and smiling at me. I moved toward him, and then crouched down to his level. I said, "Hello. Here; you can have this." He took his hands off the steering wheel and took the tract! I smiled brightly, said goodbye and walked toward the girls further down the sidewalk. I said 'hello' again, and they smiled back at me.

I walked away, and heard one of them say, "Theo [or another similar boys’ name] got something from the mailman!" I was overjoyed. I glanced back and they were crowding around him reading the Gospel! Hopefully, God will use it for His glory, and make an impact on their lives. I continued delivering papers to the homes.

As I was on my second-to-last street, I hadn’t walked near anyone since those kids. I promised God that if He gave me one more person to give a tract to, I would do it. I began the final street, and the chance hadn't come. I was somewhat disappointed. But, God came through, but made me keep my promise the hard way.

Sure, it’s pretty easy to give a tract to an adorable little boy. But when you have to give one to an adult, it becomes a challenge. When it is a group of adults, well, I’ve never done that before. Sure enough, standing at the end of the road was four adults! I was like, Oh man, why did I have to promise it? :D I knew I needed to do it, as my fear is pitiful compared to the fear people will face in Hell forever and ever.

I walked up to them, and they seemed friendly enough. I handed one a paper, and to another I gave a 'money' tract and told him to "read the back sometime, it’s very important." He thanked me, we wished each other a nice day, and said goodbye. Although it took a little courage and overcoming of fear to approach these people, it is ever so important. How can we not? Nothing is more important than your eternal salvation.

God bless, J.J.

Bendixens + Tour Group + Us = ... Exactly

2009-04-20T19:07:00.015-04:00

This Summer, Katie will be singing in a tour group as she travels across the Northeastern United States going church-to-church. Though it isn't Summer yet, they were singing at a church in our town. We couldn't let an opportunity like this go to waste! We had a mission. A mission we titled Bendixens. :P

I'll begin several days before the weekend. We did a lot of work. We even redid our dining room (using the same paint color yet a different wallpaper). We've had that wallpaper since we moved into the house, and I'll really miss it... a lot. :P Well, I suppose I'll eventually get over it, but I hate changing things. :)

What the wallpaper looked like before we redid it. Goodbye, and I'll remember you forever. :P

Saturday
On Saturday, the Bendixens arrived bright and early... Levi even woke me out of bed! While all the other Bendixens went to someone's house to fix a furnace, Andrew decided to give Levi a haircut. Yes, I said, "Andrew gave Levi a haircut." :P

Andrew destroying Levi's hair:

Levi screamed the whole time! :P

In the afternoon, Ele, Andrew and Levi took Katie to Adrian, Michigan to join her tour group. I couldn't go, as I had to do my paper route yet. Jeriah volunteered (yay for Jeriah, my name-twin! :P) to help me. Sadly, I didn't get a single picture/video from it at all. While I was half-way done, the paper owner was watching me! As I walked past her, she stopped me and talked to me! Ahh! (I did everything alright, I think. :P )

At around 5pm, we went ice skating with Katie's tour group, and a whole church youth group! I didn't fall down onto the ice a single time. That is, until they did a race! It was a four-team race, with five players on each time. When it came time for me to speed around the rink, I blazed off like... a Bendixen! As I was rounding the first corner, with our team in second-or-third place, I wiped out and fell to the ground. Uh-oh.

I did get back up quickly, but that wasn't the point – I fell. :P Our team ended up finishing in third place, and I don't believe it was because of me. We continued to skate for awhile, and it was a lot of fun.

Myself, Plyllissa and Levi:

Jemima, Grace, Andrew, Myself, Katie:

Ele and Grace:

After skating, the camera went dead. We went to CiCi's Pizza, and had a really good time there. Lots of laughs. :) We did much work that night, up until around midnight. At that time we began watching a movie... a very long one. It was an old movie titled The Borrowers, and it turned out to be three hours long!

Watching the movie:

So we watched... and watched... and watched. The movie dragged on for so long, we couldn't believe our eyes. When it finally seemed to be ending, it ended up only being half way through. We laughed so hard through it all... though it wasn't even funny. We didn't finished the movie until after 3am. :P

Sunday
On Sunday morning, we woke up and went to Loomis for church, with the Bendixens. Afterwards, we returned home and cleaned up the house one final time. At around three in the afternoon, Katie's tour group arrived! We sat in the living room for much of the afternoon, introducing ourselves, and each other. We had such a great time of laughter! It was awesome.

Sitting around in the living room:

Having lunch:

A video of us all singing:

After only an hour or two, the group had to leave to go sing at a church. Shortly thereafter, we all loaded up into the vans and drove to church. The service was two hours long, and a great time! The message was very moving and the tour group's singing was beautiful. Afterwards, everyone stayed and we had a great time of fellowship.

On our way to church:

The tour group (stolen from Ele):

All in all, I could hardly imagine the weekend being much better (although, if we're on the subject, I could come up with some ideas :P ). It was... hard to explain. I suppose I've run out of ways to explain it. Just envision this: the Bendixens + Tour Group + Us = ... Exactly. :)

God bless, J.J.

The Green Band That Changed the World

2009-04-11T19:47:00.009-04:00

Nearly four months ago, we went ice skating with the Bendixens. At the skating rink, the workers give you a green band to put around your arm, so they can identify skaters inside the rink. I kept the band on for a long time, at least several weeks. But, several weeks later, went we ice skating again (which you can read about in my post titled The Longest Day of My Life) and I received a new green band.

The first one was ugly, messy and nearly falling off, so I decided to finally take it off. However, in taking off the first one, I left the second one on. It has now been several months since that time (literally, April 16, 2009 will be my three-month anniversary), and I still have this half-plastic/half-paper and fully green band around my arm. It was even the center object of a game of Psychologist we played while the Bendixens were at our house at a later date.

Here is a picture of me and my green band I took last night:

People ask me all the time, "You still have that thing on?", so yes, I do, and I have no plans on taking it off anytime soon. I have thought about when, how, or why I should take it off (as it is very beat up now). That will be a dramatic event to say the least. Any ideas?

God bless, J.J.

The Greatest Day of Home Church Yet!

2009-03-22T23:47:00.015-04:00

It seems, as I begin to get old and gray hairs begin appearing unwelcomed onto my head, everything... well... okay, scratch that. :P

Anyways, my weekend was truly amazing! We had such a good time with the Bendixens, and then we were able to go to Home Church for the first time in a while! It was, for sure, a phenomenal time, and I made sure not to miss a single moment. :)

Friday
On Friday, we did lots of things, and I took pictures of it all. :)

First of all, we played volleyball!

This was my team. :P

After that, we went to our rental house and raked the leaves:

We collected like 15 bags of leaves!

Then, we all went to the Ice Cream Parlour!

Phyllissa was left out of the picture. ;)

Katie is quite talented you know. :P

And Ele had quite the appetite. :P

Huddling around the arcade games ;)

Levi having the time of his life!

Late Friday night, we all watched [laughing & crying] The Christmas Shoes. It was fun, and here is the group photo. ;)

Saturday
On Saturday, most of us went to the dollar store inside the mall. :)

Levi, Andrew and I walked part way there:

Ele's second favorite part of every store (right behind the candy aisle...):

The three of us in the mall. The Bendixens bought like 25+ bags of beef jerky ;)

Most of the people drove around on our go-cart:

Levi came with me on my paper route:

A video of Levi and I on the paper route. :)

Mr. Bendixen, Levi, Andrew and I played Nexus Ops:

Home Church
For at least a week, we had been spreading the word, and getting people to pray that we would come to Home Church the following Sunday. With special thanks to God, we were able to go! We didn't find out for sure until late Saturday, but we were so excited about it! :)

While having church, and when we would normally be winding down by having communion, people started confessing and asking forgiveness for things. It was really awesome. The last person to do it was Ryan C., who apologized to me for debating him on music. I was really surprised that he would (a) ask for forgiveness (as I did the same as he), and (b) that he'd do it during church. I also did so to him, and that made it the first time I'd ever talked during Home Church. ;)

Also before communion, we anointed the baby Jonathan with oil. As you probably know, he has had bad problems lately, and many people have been praying for him. Praise God, he has been doing very much better! (Though he is still losing weight.) We'll see what God will do! Overall, it was a really awesome church service.

After church, we (of course) played volleyball! But, after a few games, we decided to go witnessing at the mall. So, all of us teenagers (and a few adults) packed ourselves into two vans and drove to a nearby mall. For a while, we mostly just walked around the mall, looking for people to talk to. There weren’t very many people there.

Before we left, everyone stood in a circle, talking and praying:

We decided to go to another mall, but people we scattered throughout the mall by now. We all started meeting in a central place, while Barak played his guitar. He was also reading The Wordless book, and giving the Gospel. We all stood around him, to create a crowd. Once we were all about together, a security guard came up to Barak and said something like, "If you want to jam, that's fine. But not here." Yeah, Barak the Jammer. :P

Ryan C. in the van on the way to the mall:

We then went to a bigger mall. For a while there, I didn't talk to anyone (as well as many others). Ryan C. and I decided to talk to this guy which was just sitting in his seat not doing anything. After talking with him for a bit, we learned that he was a Christian, too. We spent about an hour talking to him. At one point, Ryan said, "Well, it's been nice talking to you," somewhat wanting to leave. Then the guy said, "Why, you aren't going anywhere, are you?" Ryan had to act like he wasn’t think of it. So I wanted to laugh, but didn't. :D

It was a good talk, and the guy was a really good Christian. He even hugged us goodbye. :P It was now mall closing, so we walked out of the building. As we were waiting for everyone else to come out, we had a good time of fun, laughter, and singing. We learned that three people were saved while witnessing! Praise God! Once Jacob and Ele finished talking to a guy, we left. As we were following the other van, we got stuck behind a red light, and lost them. We took a wrong turn on the highway, and fully lost them!

Jeriah at the second mall:

Here is us singing More Precious Than Silver:

Jeriah was a good navigator, so we did get back on track. But, we just decided to go home from there. When we arrived home, they weren't there! We kept calling them, and we thought they went out to a coffee shop or something. Thankfully, they didn't, and were just picking up some ice cream from a store. While they were on their way, I was able to hold Jonathan for the first time ever. I loved it. :)

Ele, Bear and Andrew singing Standing on the Promises:
\

I don't know why, but Ele was sitting on Andrew while singing. ;)

After ice cream and more volleyball, people started to leave, sadly. We sang several songs, and talked in the living room for a while. Still sadly, we soon had to go. But it was an amazing day! I enjoyed it all, from the confessions and anointing of oil during church, to volleyball and being with friends, and having people saved while witnessing at the mall, and it truly was The Greatest Day of Home Church Yet!

God bless, J.J.

What Happened At Chuck E. Cheez-Its...

2009-03-10T01:01:00.021-04:00

(Note: To those of you who incorrectly call Kroger, "Krojers", you probably know Chuck E. Cheez-Its as "Chuck E. Cheese's". :P)

For the last several weeks, Phyllissa has been planning on going to Chuck E. Cheez-Its (we created that name...) on her birthday, in which she turned 7-years-old. The night before, my Dad had called Jeriah about a leak problem in the chimney of our rental house. Jeriah then planned on coming to our house in the morning, to look at and possibly fix it.

We were planning to leave at 11:30 in the morning. But we were (as always) late, and still weren't even ready by noon. To our surprise, Barak and Amanda came with Jeriah at about 12:00! If we would have left on time, we would not even have been able to see them at all! It can be good to be late for everything. :P

After much waiting, we decided Jeriah would stay and work; and Barak and Amanda would come to Chuck E. Cheez-Its with us. By the time we left the house, it was already after 1pm. First, we had to stop at the rental house (which is only a few streets over), so Barak could look at the furnace there. By 1:15, we were finally on our way to Chuck E. Cheez-Its! Almost. We had to go back home because Jemima had forgot her purse. :)

Barak working:

While waiting for Jemima to come out with her purse, my Dad started to tell my Mom Andrew was home from work. So Mom went in, and came out telling us we would be waiting for him. This was like our umpteenth interruption, though I'm glad we all were able to go. Sometime after 1:30, we finally were on our way!

At Chuck E. Cheez-Its
We had a really great time there, here are lots of pictures and videos. ;)

Phyllissa on her birthday:

Susanna with Barney:

Andrew and Barak racing, with Amanda cheering Barak on ;)

I took a video of them racing:

Susanna, Grace and Barak on the merry-go-round:

Susanna was really afraid of Chuck E. I had to hold her for my Mom to get a picture ;)

Barak riding a animated horse (we all rode it. It was... weird:P):

Here's Phyllissa being sung to with "Happy Birthday":

While we were there, we had our pictures taken by a machine. It only cost 25 cents (one token) to do it, so we took a lot. Here are my favorites.

I was trying hard not to smile in this one. :P

The group picture (except my Mom). We were really excited about how it came out. Left to Right: Amanda, Me, Susanna, Andrew (on top), Grace, Jemima (above), Barak (below):

Afterwards
On the way home, we drove by our old house (which I lived in all my early life). It seems soooo much smaller now. :) I took this picture in the fast-moving van of it:

We went through a sign that said "Road closed, Flood ahead." For a while, it seemed fine. But then we saw the flood in the road. We decided to go through it in our van. I took a video. ;)

We also went to Anna's family's new house (which they are planning on redoing). It was flooded everywhere, and very muddy:

Talking:

Andrew holding the birthday cake:

Jemima, Plyllissa and Susanna around the cake:

We watched The Parent Trap 2 together. Here's all of us on a couch :P

We had planned on it being a short visit in the morning so Jeriah could fix a leak in the chimney (which, so far, he has done). But, it turned out being another whole day with the Bendixens, and they didn't leave until after midnight. It was all very fun, another phenomenal memory. And so, life goes on, awaiting what will happen next. :)

God bless, J.J.

The Best Spike Ever!

2009-03-06T15:00:00.008-05:00

There comes a time in a man's life when he must do the impossible – learn to spike in volleyball. Well, maybe not. But anyways, my time has come. :P

Before I get into that, here are a few photos...

Susanna at the library:

Andrew and I practiced volleyball before we left:

The cell-culator :P

Playing with a video game during volleyball:

Alright, alright, alright, enough distraction. On this play (thank you, Jemima, for recording it!), my team was up by one point, and this would decide the entire game. Pastor John had been blocking my spikes all game long, and I saw him coming for me again. I knew this would decide the game. As I was going up for the ball, I chose to use my left hand to spike it (which I have practiced a lot with lately), though it would have been safer to use my right. I went up... and here's what happened! ;)

We won! It was really exciting. :)

God bless, J.J.

When the Cat's Away,

2009-02-27T20:32:00.014-05:00

...I spill milk down the stairs. :P See, it was late at night, when all children should be sleeping. I had in my hand, a donut. I had in my other hand, some milk. I started to walk down the stairs to the office (where the computers are). As I stepped on the first step, my donut started to split in half! I quickly jerked my hand up, trying to save it before it fell down the stairs! But, I went too far, and poured my glass of milk all down the stairs! So, not only did the donut break in half and fall to the ground, I splattered my milk all over the wall and stairs! :P

I took a picture of the milk mess:

In other recent news...

The girls went to a tea party with friends:

Building Jenga towers:

On Thursdays, we go to volleyball. This Thursday was no different, but I did do something else. In between my games (which we won all 4, as usual with me :P), I played with the younger kids in a special room. I had such a great time with them, and it was probably even better than volleyball itself. ;)

Me making my only spike of the game. :)

Page smiling. ;)

We took a lot of pictures while playing:

This was the first picture I took:

Anyways, I just wanted to do a post the didn't involve tagging. And also, people told me to do one. So there you go! I hope you enjoyed it. ;)

God bless, J.J.

Tagged... Yes... Yet Again. :)

2009-02-23T18:28:00.009-05:00

Well, dare I spend a whole good blog post on this, I was tagged by Bethany! In the spirit of tagophobia, I will do my list, without cheating like everyone else. ;)

I'm an innocent little kid who has stumbled onto all this fame. :P
I have eight siblings: Donnie (in college), Amanda (married), Katie (in college), Andrew (getting old), [myself], Grace (12), Jemima (9), Phyllissa (6) and Susanna (4).
My 100% favorite sport is volleyball!.
I am a follower of Jesus Christ.
I was saved by Him at around age 6.
I cannot wait for Summer.
I really like skiing.
I once had appendicitis, which means I only have a few more years to live. :P
I wish I could be a kid forever (and have no intentions of ever maturing...).
I dislike almost all school...
But my favorite subjects are English and Geography.
My least favorite are Maths and Sciences... awful. :)
Seven (7) is my favorite number.
I love getting comments. ;)
This is my third post (in the last five) that has been because of someone tagging me one way or another...
I have been trying figure out how to get my links at the top to center.
I am a conservative, Republican I suppose.
I started reading Medallion last night.
I haven't read a novel in... months and months, probably a year. :)
By birthdate is August 18, so you can all start your birthday shopping now! :P
I don't think I have a favorite movie, but my favorite book is, for sure, the Bible. :)
I like Galatians–Colossians.
I love music and singing.
I worked at our rental house for at least eight hours today.
I love playing with little kids. :)
I like chatting with people on Google Talk.
I like watching classic TV shows, like Full House, Dick Van Dyke, Andy Griffith, and The Cosby Show.
I like listening to Adventures in Odyssey, Jonathan Park, Paws & Tales, The Pond, Down Gilead Lane, Kid's Corner, and other kid's radio shows.
I do a weekly paper route.
I love going to Home Church!
I dislike the cold weather a lot.
I think dissconecded should be made a word (I don't know what it means, though :P).
I am a Michigan State fan.
I had an amazing Thanksgiving and Christmas!
I need to get my camera developed, after over two years. :P
I am an administrator on Wikipedia.
I am very cool (someone else told me to add this one :P).
I have been wearing a green band on my wrist for several weeks now!
When I was thinking of what my blog address should be, I never expected "JJfortheKing" would stick.
But I'm glad it did!
I have been learning some CSS lately.
This is my 35th blog post.
My favorite post I've done is The Longest Day of My Life.
Currently, I only have 36 people following my blog! :(
I had the biggest prank pulled on me. ;)
I am 14-years-old.
I am homeschooled.
I have brunet hair color.
I have blue eyes.
Even with all these things going for me, I am still unmarried. ;)

God bless, J.J.

Excellence in Blogcasting

2009-02-22T14:09:00.002-05:00

You may or may not have noticed it, but I was given a blog award (in my sidebar) entitled "Excellence in Blogcasting", and therefore is expected to give it to others as well. But, as I started to think about it, I didn't want to just give an award to a select few, how mean would that be? No, I needed to share it with everyone! :P

So, I decided to write this list of awards, given to most all of you who follow my blog. And yes, a few of them are serious awards. ;)

Excellence in Giving Me the Blog Award to Begin With: Asher Acres

Excellence in Lots of Fireproof Things: Count Your Blessings

Excellence in Political News: Front Lines Blog

Excellence in Rambling: Rebecca's Ramblings

Excellence in Really Good Writings: A Warrior's Heart

Excellence in Joyfulness: Charity Joy

Excellence in Intentionally Misspelling the Word "Corner": Katelin's Korner
Excellence in Incorporating Fruity Blog Titles: Hannah Banana

Excellence in Over-Using the Word "Bear": Bear's Girl

Excellence in Willingness to Post Clown Pictures of Yourself: Life as a Missionary Kid

Excellence in Not Putting Spaces in Your Blog Title: RyanWegnersBlog

Excellence in Green Blog Backgrounds: Joel Cooper's blog

Excellence in Evangelism: So Choose.

Excellence in Being Strong and of Good Courage: Strong and of Good Courage

Excellence in Entertainment: Warrior for the King

Excellence in Being Really Tall: KevinWegnersBlog

Excellence in Getting Your Blog Title To Be Italic: Leah's PICstars

Excellence in Being a Texan: Jill Of All Trades

Excellence in Stirring Up Devision Among Christians: Life's Extreme Disputes and Debates

Excellence in Writing Interesting Thoughts: Hello, my name is:

Excellence in Loving Your Dog: Pure Country Kid

Excellence in Getting 5 Comments When You Don't Even Post Anything: Make It Count

Excellence in adding "M." to Your Profile's Name for People You Don't Even Know: HopeJourney

Excellence in Being the Last Award On This List: Rachel Heyworth

Enjoy your awards people! Feel free to give away the award to others, add it to your sidebar or run screaming around your house – You've Won An Award! :D

God bless, J.J.

Say "Hello" To 25 Years!

2009-02-19T00:20:00.017-05:00

Beginning Friday, my parents will be celebrating their 25th anniversary! We have had a really good time in the past several days. Here are some pictures (and videos) from our enjoyments. ;)

On Wednesday, the Bendixens came to our house, to help us work on one of our rentals. We worked for most of the day, and it was a really good time.

Susanna standing over the vent. She was so cute ;)

Levi painted his name in the wall...

...So I decided to do my name too. :)

Us having lunch:

Towards the end of the day, we all piled on one another and watched Ratatouille ;)

At around 9pm, we stopped working and returned to our house. Amanda had spent much of the day at home making food and cleaning. So once my Dad came home from work, we had a surprise dinner for them. We had such a good time dressing up, planning, being waiters, and putting on a skit of when my parents were engaged. :)

Planning in the basement:

All twelve of us were walking around in the kitchen working:

My Mom & Dad:

Levi was playing his accordion through much of the night. So, the other five of us guys decided to perform for my parents. It was an awesome time. :P

Amanda was the narrator for the story:

Andrew did a really good job on the role of my Dad. :P

Alright. This is the end of the play, and I'm sorry it is so dark. Enjoy!

Bow, for that's all there is, there isn't anymore.

God bless, J.J.

To the Best Followers In the World...

2009-02-11T00:41:00.025-05:00

Well, this week, I went on a ski-trip with the Bendixens, and many other good friends. (Some of which I just met.) We planned this as a ski-trip, but we only spent around 6 hours of our 4 days skiing. ;) Here is what happened, in full detail, for you, my followers. ;)

After church on Sunday, while the others were playing outside, several of us stayed inside and talked in the Bendixens' living room. After that, many of us guys decided to go witnessing. It was my first time ever actually evangelizing, besides giving out tracts. I went with Joe, and we had a really good time (except for all the people who rejected us...).

When we arrived back, we were pelleted with snowballs. Soon thereafter, we began a snowball fight against the girls (...although I don't understand why everything turns out boys vs. girls...). After that, we played Jailbreak. Although these two things were enjoyable, I largely preferred the talking in the living room and evangelizing at the mall.

Leah and Nate playing Foosball:

Sitting around in the living room:

On Monday, Levi and I decided to Canoe down the snow path Ele and Levi built along their house. It was a lot of fun, and I am surprised we went down so fast. Here are some pictures from that:

Levi going down:

Me jumping on:

Levi tipping back and forth ;)

On Monday night, we went to Orchestra Practice. I spent most of my time building a car track with Victoria and Elizabeth.

Orchestra Practice:

Elizabeth & Victoria:

Nine total people on a three-person couch ;)

Late on Monday night, Levi, Andrew, Ele and I went on a shopping trip to Kroger and picked up some things we wanted for the ski-trip in the morning. I was the cart guy. :) Here is a video of us looking through the candy isle, where we spent like half our time choosing which candy to get ;)

The Ski-Trip
The night before, I fell asleep really quickly. Usually it takes me awhile to fall asleep, especially as I had woken up really late the day before. Thankfully, I was able to get several hours of sleep before waking up at 4:15. We packed up, and were off to pick up Jacob, then merge vehicles for the trip northward.

On the way there, I ended up being in Red, the Bendixens' "unpopular" van. For the record, here are those who were around me: Barak & Amanda, Ryan W., Kevin, Abigail and Victoria. The Heyworths had the popular van, and we figured that because they were having such a good time, we needed to have fun as well. We ended up playing I'm Going To China..., drawing pictures and having a good time. Yay for us! :D

Here are some pictures from the ride:

Barak & Amanda:

Ryan and Kevin:

Abigail and Victoria:

Love my bunny ears ;)

Through the first few hours of the day, it felt like I was just searching for the others. I would go from area to area wondering where they are. Finally, I met up with Barak and Brianna. The several hills and lifts we went on together were probably the best time I had skiing all day. This is probably because we went on the back trails, which are simple, and I could practice more. Whereas on the main hills, it was a straight-down drop and I mostly snow-plowed down, not improving much at all.

Now, it is time to mention my personal falls. ;) Firstly, I was going down the main sidehill, entitled Hemlock. I fully wiped out, and skidded down the hill like 50 feet. I actually felt cool doing it – it felt like I was in an action movie, flicking snow in front of me. Thankfully, a snowboarder saw it and brought my other ski down to me.

While I was with Barak and Brianna, Bear had his sweatshirt off, with only a long-sleeved shirt on. So, I did the same, and tied my hoodie around my waist. While I was going down my favorite hill, I crashed and slid on the snow. I had rolled up my sleeves, so my elbows were really cut up from it.

This was my main fall of the day. I was, again, going down my favorite hill on the side. It is a fairly simple hill, so I wouldn't expect to fall much on it. But as I was beginning going down it, somehow I flipped forward head-first into the snow. It crushed by sunglasses into my face, and jammed my thumb really bad. I use my right hand a lot in skiing, but without my thumb, it made it really difficult to turn. As I was taking the lift up, Ryan W. was the first to ask me this awful question: Did you fall on your face? :) I kept being asked questions like What happened to you?, Does your face hurt?, and, my personal favorite, Is there something wrong with your face?, all day long. ;)

In reality, my face didn't hurt much. It was my thumb, which I later learned I had sprained, that really hurt. For the last several months, I have been practicing using my left hand while eating. I've gotten really good at it, and it is almost natural now. As I write this on Thursday, my thumb is all swollen and I can't use it much at all. So I am proud to announce, I am now officially left-handed!

As far as I can tell, I fell down more than anyone else, at least around 10 times. As I write this, every muscle in body is sore, especially for my arms. Several hours after lunch, I finally was able to catch up and stay with the group. After going up and down the hills several times, we decided to go to the highest point of the mountain (I believe so), and take a group picture. Now, it was the end the day, and time go finish up. Every since my fall, I had very little strength in my right hand, and for some reason my right ski wasn't working. So, not only did I have to snow plow, but had to do it from the highest point of the mountain on one wobbly ski. :)

I made it down alright, and had time for one more lift up. I decided to go over one last time to my favorite hill. As I went over there, I saw Bear & Manda standing and taking pictures. So, after getting my picture taken, I went down for the very last time. We packed up all our belongings, and loaded into the vans.

Here are some pictures from skiing:

Faith, Rachel, Ele and Jemima:

Hannah, Victoria and some others:

Lucy, Victoria, Andrew and Ele:

Bear, Myself and Brianna:

Levi, Joe and Andrew:

Charity, Hannah and Abigail:

Abigail, Kevin, Ele and Ryan W:

Jemima, Levi and Victoria:

Faith, Ele, Lucy and Ryan C:

Grace, Bear & Manda:

During the ride home, we stopped at B.C. Pizza for dinner. I sat at the younger kids' table, and had a good time (although pizza is a terrible food to eat in front of people ;). We also stopped at Dairy Queen, which I bought a Large Blue Raspberry Arctic Rush for the ride home!

The group photo at the pizza place:

Our table:

On the following ride home, our group (two benches) played many different games. Of course, we had camera wars. ;) After at least an hour, we started not finishing our games at all – we would start a game, but then get tired of it and not finish. One of the most fun things we did was have Kevin and I read a book together. It was fun. ;)

After a while, we made Kevin sing his version of The Star Spangled Banner, and we joined him. That began a chain reaction of singing, and soon most of the van was singing along. We sang many songs for the next few hours, and I really liked it. I also got to know the people around me really well. After saying our goodbyes, we went home.

On Wednesday, we watched a Pride and Prejudice-like movie entitled North and South. All of us watched it (for most of the time), and we had a really good time with it. (Watching any romantic movie with the Bendixens will be fun. ;)

Everyone (except me) watching the movie:

Levi and I (Note: I edited out my scars. :)

In conclusion, I have been on three ski trips in my lifetime – Boyne Highlands, Caberfae and Boyne Mountain. In these three three trips, I been on the best mountain, had the best overall time, and enjoyed the greatest ride home ever, respectfully.

God bless, J.J.

I've been Tagged by Courtney!

2009-01-31T21:19:00.010-05:00

Even though I want to keep The Worst Prank of 2009 as my current post forever, I have been tagged by Courtney! I have no clue what that even means, but I suppose I'll follow suit. :)

A movie I watched: Fireproof! It was really good!

A moment I will always remember: I will, or course, never forget the prank. :) I won't forget Boyne Highlands, Caberfae, Lake Huron, the Wedding, Go-Carting and Biking, several days at Home Church, Gym Class (maybe I will), or many other experiences in the last 365 days.

A new skill I acquired: Well, I've become much better at the Piano. I learned much on computers. I've learned how to evangelize and give out tracts (I'm assuming these questions are multiple choice ;).

A lesson I learned: Hmm, though question. I've have learned a lot. I suppose, I learned how the Israelites, and their journey, is related to our music and lifestyles today (thank you, Levi, I remember you talking about it in Devotions and liked it).

A new place I visited this year: Well, other than the skiing places, we didn't travel much. We did go to Indiana to visit Katie & Donnie a few times, though.

A book I read: Do Hard Things. The Bendixens gave me this book for my birthday, and so I read it. It was a really good book.

An inspiring verse or quote: "As sure as ever God puts His children in the furnace, He will be in the furnace with them," or any other quote by Charles Spurgeon.

Here are the rules:
1. Fill in your memories of 2008.
2. Link my blog to yours.
3. Tag others and comment on their blog so they know they've been tagged.

I now tag Emily, Rachel Heyworth, Kevin Wegner and Joel Cooper! (I changed from Levi, he is away)

Let the tagging begin, dear followers!

God bless, J.J.

The Worst Prank of 2009

2009-01-28T00:48:00.014-05:00

Also read: Levi's post on it! (Very funny)

Well, yesterday, lots of friends of mine decided to scheme together and play a prank on me. It worked to perfection. So, here is my story on what happened. I truly have the most mean and cruel followers in the world. Even though it was really mean of you all, I'm still glad you did it. :D

It all started several days ago. Ryan said the following:

I'm just joking,but to let you all know I've got more followers then everyone except J.J. I think I have almost enough to start my own CULT! :)

I replied:

But YES I have more followers than any other blog I follow. If anyone overtakes me, I'll simply stop following them. ;)

God bless, J.J.

I didn't think much of the situation. I thought it was cool, and that I have the best blog ever! But, that was only the beginning.

On Monday night, Levi told me that they were doing some baptisms in their hot tub. He didn't tell me, however, who was at the baptisms. This turned out to be the key of the prank.

On Tuesday, I woke up and saw that I only had 17 followers! The night before, I had 29! I was terrified! I tried to figure it out for several hours, but to no avail. As the hours began to tick by, I was still watching my followers. Every hour or so, I would lose another follower!

I then decided I would have to ask my old followers to take me back. ;) So I posted this message:

Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! This is awful!

If you'll notice 4 posts up, my worst nightmare has happened. I just lost more than half my followers! More than half! I now have far less than most of you. :(

Well, if you will, please click here and follow my blog again. I do not know what happened to make you all stop following (unless everyone generally dislikes me...). :D

/me goes off to read Proverbs 16:18...

I was getting so scared. I thought perhaps my account was compromised, and a hacker had learned my email/blogger password. So I changed my password, hoping this would fix the problem. It didn't, and I was still losing my followers. I thought about something, I just changed my browser, maybe that did it? So, I switched my browser. Still, I lost another follower.

By now, I had wasted the entire day. I was getting frustrated with Andrew, who kept not telling me anything. I asked him if he did anything, and he wouldn't give a good answer. I was sure that it was Andrew, sure about it. At nighttime, we voice chatted with the Bendixens and my family who were there. They all laughed at me for believing Andrew could do something like that, and I was getting more and more frustrated. Everyone was making fun of me! I now only had 11 followers, so I decided I should block all 11, hoping that would keep them following until the problem was over. ;)

One more thing – during this time, I decided it was time to report the problem to blogger, as it must be a bug or something. I then went to the blogger help group, and posted this:

This is really frustrating. My blog is JJfortheking.blogspot.com, and
I should have like 32+ followers (I did). But, something has gone
wrong, and I now only have 15. Believe me, they didn't just all decide
to stop following, for one, because I was following myself, and now
I'm not (I didn't stop). Also, I checked "blocked followers" and it is
empty.

It seems as if I am losing a follower every hour or so, as I had 18 or
so a few hours ago. I really need help.

Thank you, J.J.

Finally, at around 12:30am, Levi and Andrew decided to tell what they had done. They told me the whole story. The night before, at the baptism, lots of my friends were there. They figured out who of us had the most followers (me), and who didn't (them), and that they should do something about it. ;)

So, the Heyworths, Bendixens, Coopers, Wegners, and several other people all decided to stop following my blog at 7:30 in the morning, all at once. But, not everyone stopped right then, so people stopped following me off/on throughout the day. That is what caused followers being lost throughout the day. I had even been chatting with people during the day, and told them to follow me, and they did. But then Levi told them to stop following, and they did.

I must admit, you all worked your plan to perfection. Good job, guys and girls! I was clueless, and it wrecked my entire day. (I was trying to fix it all day). It's good to have friends who are willing to do that. :D However, I laugh at it now. ;)

Oh and one more thing. You know what Google report I sent? Well, I felt I needed to reply back to Google, so they wouldn't worry about it. Here is what I had to write:

I do apologize. This was a mistake. My friends ganged together and all stopped following me at the same time.

This is very humiliating. Everything is alright now.

Sorry, J.J.

God bless, J.J.

Fireproof Dark Nights From Ember Are Here!

2009-01-27T17:48:00.010-05:00

Well, pardon the misleading title, but it is almost half true. :)

Over the last few days, all my younger sisters have been at Manda and Bear's house. For the first time in my childhood life, I went to Panera Bread! I have wanted to go there for so long, it is almost bitter sweet. ;)

So, it has given Andrew, Mom and I the perfect opportunity to watch some movies.

City of Ember
City of Ember was alright. But it was too dark for me, and the Mole was just too scary. ;)

The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight... makes me so mad. It was awesome and had a really good storyline, but it did the worst thing ever – have Batman not save Rachel. I am so mad. I cannot believe it, and it is the worst movie ever made, just because of that. I am mad. :D

Fireproof
I had been awaiting Fireproof for a long time! I knew a lot about it before watching it, I even wrote the Wikipedia article on it. I loved how Cameron kept being rejected while trying so hard to save his marriage. It is such a good movie!

God bless, J.J.

Pictures from Tonight

2009-01-24T23:41:00.012-05:00

Well, Barak and Amanda came over tonight. They were coming to take all my younger sisters, which will be staying at their house to several days.

Here is some pictures I took (mostly) during the few hours that they were here.

Doesn't Barak have the great smile & laugh? I've always loved it.

Behind the scenes! Andrew is doing something with this (+more) pictures! I stole it just for you, my readers. :)

Barak is allowed to eat in the living room. ;)

Plyllissa, Susanna and Barak:

Playing around:

Well, here is Barak. He was playing with the girls, pretending to be their baby. I love this video! :)

God bless, J.J.

When All You Want Is Pictures...

2009-01-22T00:25:00.006-05:00

Who do you turn to? :)

Here are some miscellaneous pictures from the past few days. Enjoy!

Grace on my paper route:

Chocolates the Bendixens gave us (we've now eaten all but the fruity ones ;)

Grace & Jemima, being weird:

...But even weirder!

These were fun pictures to take ;)

All smiles :D

God bless, J.J.

The Longest Day of My Life

2009-01-16T00:47:00.018-05:00

Alright, in this post, I really want the ski-trip to be the centerpoint and ending, so here is what happened on the other days this weekend, not including Thursday (which is the ending).

On Wednesday, Barak & Amanda, along with Jeriah, came to pick up Andrew, Anna (who came with us), and myself, but they didn't arrive at our house until late, so we didn't arrive at their house until even later (well, of course).

Tickle wars on Wednesday ;)

The group picture (I hate how my head just sticks out) :)

On Friday, we (Levi, Ele, Andrew and I) went to the Robinson's house to fix a furnace. Before we left, Ele had heated some hot chocolate for all of us. I put way too much chocolate in it, and it made it bitter. I didn't even want to drink it. As we were driving, I kept spilling it on my jeans, so Levi said to pour it out the window. I didn't want to, as it was a tiny slot I had to pour it out of, but I did it anyway. When we got out, we saw an entire line of chocolate spread accross the van, and big globs of it on the door. ;)

As it turned out, all that needed to be done to fix it was to "push the red button, Digger." ;) Yes, we needed to push a red button. But, we stayed there for a while, and had hot chocolate and cookies. The older people were talking politics, so I went (somewhat with Levi) and played with/talked to their youngest sisters. I am really glad to have met them all.

Also on Friday, we went to a Johnson's birthday event. Firstly, we stopped at Culver's for dinner, and it was my first time ever going there (now only Panera Bread is left...). Then we went ice skating. Just so everyone knows, I am an awful skater. I caught onto skiing fairly quickly, but after my 5th time ice skating, I'm officially the worst skater ever. :D

We then went to the Johnson's house, and played several games (Moods, Catch Phrase, Ticket to Ride, Pictionary, and so on). On my only time to draw for Pictionary, I got like the hardest word to explain – "Pastry". Besides the fact I hardly know what it is, it is too general of a word. However, I began drawing a donut/bagel, and a stick-person eating it. Though I cannot understand him, Levi, out of the blue, guessed a Pastry! I was so excited! And we ended up winning off mine! Pretty good for my first time ever playing the game, eh? :D

On Saturday, we went to Matt's house, oh which Levi had just met. We had went to his house on Friday, but we had to cut our visit short because of the Johnson's party. We played a really good game of Acquire, which fastly has become my favorite boardgame. Also, we played one of the best ever games of foosball, that was hilarious. ;) We later video chatted with the Marshalls, via Skype, and they gave us a video tour of their new house in Texas. In was really cool, as we had 15+ people crowded around a little computer monitor. ;) After that, we had a birthday party for Anna's Mom, and a dinner, then packed up and left. Levi and I tried to scheme out a way for us to stay until church the next day. For example, we tried to find people in Michigan who had recently died because of the bad weather (and we found many). But it didn't work out, and we made it home safely.

Playing Acquire at Matt's house:

Huddling around the computer:

Hello, Ele :D

Now, here is what he did on Thursday, our phenomenal ski-trip.

The Ski-Trip
We woke up at 4:30am, dressed, ate and so on, then packed up the van for our trip to the Heyworth's workplace, which was an hour north of us. Levi, Andrew and I sat together, squished in the back, and really squished. That is, I was squished. ;) We promised ourselves that we would go into their van, and not be stuck in ours the entire trip. :D Well, we did make it out, and I'm really glad we did. For the next few hours, we had a great time of teasing Rachel, taking pictures and having camera-flash wars, to name just a few things. :D

Rachel – Andrew and Levi (not I of course) were teasing her for most of the trip ;)

Hannah and Ele:

Leah, Abigail and a few others:

Now within 20 minutes of Caberfae, we stopped at McDonald's for a second breakfast. After chatting over coffee and hot cocoa, we rejoined our course and made it to Caberfae by the time it was light out. It was really strange, we woke up to darkness, and then it became light out. So after awhile, it seemed like I had been up for several days (especially because I got 1+ hours of sleep the night before).

At the ski lodge:

It was really cold out, like in the 0s at midday (I think):

After suiting-up, Levi took me up the ski-lift for the first time. He was my instructor at Boyne (last Winter). At that time, we took it way too slowly, and I didn't get off the main little hill until after lunchtime (I wasn't very good). This time, however, he took me up the main hill and let me figure it all out on my own. I'm so glad he did, I learned much faster that way.

For the next few hours, we skied. During this time, I went on both black diamonds. One of them, the South Peak, we took the easiest way down. Still, I managed to get my skis caught ontop of each other and nearly fell over, and even while nearing the trees! But, I made it out without falling. The second was the main part of the North Peak, which, when on top of the mountain, you could see for miles in every direction. Especially at nighttime, when the show was falling hard, you couldn't see the bottom of the mountain – everything was pure white. It was so beautiful. I'm really glad I went up there as well.

All day, from lunch, to chatting with people on the ski lifts (which I really liked), to having everyone sing my theme song (Oh, J.J.!), was awesome. As I write this, it has been several days since the trip, so I don't remember most everything. Just know, nearly every moment of the ski-trip was amazing – it was memories that I will never forget, at least I never wish to.

I really liked this picture: Ele is irritating Hannah, Charity is fixing her hair and Rachel is watching Mr. Heyworth yawn ;)

The group photo:

The snowy weather:

On the way home, as people were singing songs all around me, I fell asleep for several minutes. But, before I did that, I turned on the 'record voice' feature of my Mp3 player. It recorded 25+ minutes of the people who were sitting around me. ;) So, if you sat anywhere near me, I know exactly what you were talking about. :) As we drove home on Saturday, I listened to the entire recording, but it was largely static (but not all).

We stopped at Pizza Hut for dinner. Before eating, I played Dutch Blitz, and I did awful. But it was my first time playing and learning it. We also watched an old TV show, but the sound was off, so Levi acted out what they were saying on the TV. We had lots of fun with that. ;) After eating, we decided to go home in separate vans. So we said goodbye to the Heyworths and Coopers, and left.

A few posts back, I wrote one entitled ...And A Happy New Year!, of which I listed some of the most memorable things of 2008. Well, even though I haven't done much this year, yet, this is by far the most amazing experience. I can hardly imagine much of anything being better than our ski-trip. Then again,

"...with God all things are possible." – Matthew 19:26

God bless, J.J.

Snow Days and Such

2009-01-09T21:57:00.008-05:00

Well, I haven't posted anything in a week. Mostly because of three things:

The camera has been lost for a long time. However, I found it today! I just started looking and found it. Thank you, Lord! It has been lost for quite a long time, several months at least.
The computer has been acting up, it has a virus or adware or spyware or something (or some other dumb computer name ;)
We've had nothing to post about! I can't think of anything we really did the last week.

But, here are some pictures that we took on the camera from today. We played in the snow, while it has dark. First, Andrew and I had to shovel/snow-blow the driveway. Then, I played with my younger sisters. It was great, because I haven't really done anything outdoors in a while. :D

So cute, Susanna:

Playing outside:

Nobody ever calls us "sugar lips" ;)

And one more thing: Andrew and I are (planning on and Lord-willing) going skiing with the Bendixens (and some other people, I'm not sure who) next week! I'm so excited. But, as I look at pictures of the place, it looks so scary, like this and this (I think those are it). But it is very exciting!

I'm not sure when I'll post next, probably not until next weekend or so. But of course, you never know what will happen next on The Phenomenal Blog of J.J. (For the King)! (Said to the tune of Adventures in Odyssey ;)

God bless, J.J.