Let's Focus on the Positive in 2011!

Well, another 365 days have gone by! :D 2010 is soon to be history. What have we done with our year, this time period called 2010 that God gave us? I sincerely hope as each one of us looks back on our year that we like what we see, and am glad for what we have done.

Even if we may have lived an awesome year, there's still room to improve! In this post I will try to highlight some of the fun, important things I've done this year and what I'm planning on for next year.

First of all, I have been able to complete some Bible marking/Bible studies in one of my Bibles. I am very happy about that. I was also able to read through the entire Conflict of the Ages series by Ellen White! (Shhh....I just finished it today!) I've enjoyed the Conflict series so much I'm doing a Messages to Young People (also by Ellen White) Readathon in 2011! This Readathon is also on Facebook--go to "www.facebook.com/pages" and then type in the search box "2011 Messages to Young People Readathon" and you should get it. We already have over 50 people who are going to be reading through Messages to Young People, starting tomorrow and continuing through Feb. 9!! :)

I've also had some awesome vacation experiences with my family. We've gone all over the country this year for family reunions, as well as visiting Greenfield Village with my grandparents this year! Don't forget going to the Zoo, or the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, or all the relatives I've been able to see. And then there's the various places our family has gone, such as Cherohala Skyway, replicas of Columbus' ships, and Raccoon Mountain Caverns!

You know, as I look back across my year I find many happy things I've done. Sure, there's been some not-so-happy stuff, but why dwell on that?? In this new year 2011, let us focus on the positive, what we could become and what we could do with God's help!

"We have nothing to fear for the future except as we forget how God has led us in our past." ~Ellen White

Apollo Fast Facts

Gumdrop meets Spider on the Apollo 9 mission, and
CMP Dave Scott takes a look around. 

Many important, crucial decisions were made as the Apollo lunar missions were being planned. One of the more fun, but nonetheless critical decisions was what to name the different spacecraft (the command module and lunar module) when they were separated. Here's a few cool fast facts I found on the names of the Apollo spacecraft.

1. Two missions had very well paired names for their spacecraft: Apollo 9 (Gumdrop and Spider) and Apollo 10  (Charlie Brown and Snoopy).

2. Two Lunar Modules were named after birds: Apollo 11's Eagle and Apollo 15's Falcon.

3. Three spacecraft were named in honor of inventors or explorers: Apollo 11's Columbia (after Columbus), Apollo 14's Kitty Hawk (after the Wright Brothers) and Apollo 15's Endeavor (after James Cook's ship).

4. Three spacecraft were named after stars/constellations: Apollo 13's Aquarius, Apollo 14's Antares, and Apollo 16's Orion.

5. Three space shuttles shared the same names as three Apollo spacecraft: Apollo 11's Columbia, Apollo 15's Endeavor, and Apollo 17's Challenger.

Isn't that cool?? :)
~Photobug

"Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful, and the Fire is So Delightful..."

"...and since we have no place to go, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW!" :D

Hail and Greetings to You and Yours, Greetings from Tennessee, the Land of Snow!

We southeast Tennesseans awoke this morning to a land of snow, a blanket of white covering everywhere we cast our eyes. It snowed during last night, and since at least 7 AM this morning has continued to snow (and it's been like 7 hours snowing straight!) Well we quickly decided that since we could not travel to/from church safely, we might's well have fun and call it a snow day.

Which we have!!! It's been snow much fun today, hanging around, blogging, taking pictures, playing in the snow! Mom, Dad, and Alison had fun building Pal the Snowman (see left picture). I took many pictures from inside, then geared up and headed outside to be a kid again. And it was SO much (snow much??) fun making tracks, observing the unspoiled beauty that snow brings to our little lot and woods. We've had a ton of fun! I know this is certainly my first White Christmas!! And to top that off, it's Sabbath today as well!! That is just so totally cool--thanks God! :) I've heard that this is the first time in 41 years that our area has had a White Christmas.

Below are some more snow pictures I've taken today. Enjoy! :) Merry Christmas!

~Photobug

"Oh, It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!"

Hi Everyone!

Merry Christmas! As you can definitely see from the picture (at left), our family was thrilled that Christmas finally came! We actually  opened our presents on Christmas Eve, but it was still grand fun!!

Alison could hardly wait. To be completely honest with you, I was right beside her on that point. (Why DO teenagers have to be more mature and self-controlled??) I receveied several nice presents, including many clothes, a compass/clock, some drawing materials, space books (YEA!), and a digital picture frame. (DOUBLE YEA!) I also really like the money maze and a bookshelf I got.

Christmas Day has had its own share of surprises and fun, so I'll leave that for another post. Suffice it to say that everyone had grand fun!! If you visit my actual blog, you will see below a slideshow of many more Christmas pictures taken by me and my father.

~Photobug

"In the Beginning..."

In orbit around the moon, the Apollo 8 crew on Christmas 1968:

William Anders:

"For all the people on Earth the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to send you".
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness."

 Jim Lovell:

"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day."

Frank Borman:

"And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good."

Borman then added, "And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you - all of you on the good Earth."

It's mindboggling, really. How God created our world, Earth, a one-of-a-kind, just-perfect place for us to live. That in itself is a wonder! But then to think that God's Son, Jesus, came down to our little world (amid millions!) and lived here as a human, and died to save us all. He didn't have to do it. And God's created millions, trillions of gorgeous worlds! And to think he came down to us, little tiny us, to save us so we could live with Him forever.

This Christmas, let us thank Jesus for making our wonderful world, for coming to our world, dieing, and thus opening an option that we could live with Him forever.

~Photobug

P.S.--To see what the broadcast really looked and sounded like, watch the video below! :)
You may want to visit my actual blog to see the video, as it does not play in e-mail and on Facebook.

Deep Below Raccoon Mountain...

Today my parents treated my sister and I to the most spectacular treat! They drove us to Raccoon Mountain Caverns and we all had a spelunk-ular time on the guided, 45 minute Crystal Palace Tour. I believe the Crystal Palace Tour is about a (comfortable) quarter mile long.

One of my first impressions was one I loved: they let you take as many pictures as you want!! (And yes flash is allowed.) While on the dark side, the cave is certainly not super-dark and they are many spots with spotlights illuminating points of interest (for example, the reflection pool at left.) There are stairs with handrails (YEA!) and most of the time you can stand up to your full stature. (However, there are a few very fun times when you must duck through a passage, but you move through the passage, not stopping.) The cave is always a comfortable 60 degrees. I loved seeing all the formations, just everywhere. And boy were there some spectacular views! (see below)

Keeping Up With The Brewers

So...about 2 and a half weeks ago Dad and I and Alison were driving home from shopping when we saw all these Christmas lights go by in a blur! As soon as he could, Dad stopped the car, turned around, and came to this house (see left picture.) It was pretty cool, really wacky awesome. The Brewers (their name was displayed proudly on a sign, "Merry Christmas from the Brewers" evidently had put a lot of time and thought and work into dressing up their abode for Christmas (see left picture.)

Soooo.....the next Sunday paper comes and we find there's an article on the Brewer's Christmas lights, along with another family's creations. So a couple days ago our family, along with Grandma and Grandpa in tow, set out to view the greatest Christmas light houses in our corner of the woods.

First we went to this other house, see right picture. From the newspaper we learned that they spend about $500 extra  on their electricity bill. We sure wouldn't wanna do that, but we'll go see other people spend money! :D For these people (at right) they have some 50,000 lights synced with songs, (as in the lights come on and off with the songs.) They even sync the songs with a radio station, so you can listen along in your car! And this photo at right shows maybe only 80% of  the light show. ;)

Now our family has a new saying. Instead of "keeping up with the Jones'", we quip "Keeping up with the Brewers!" :D But really, we don't need to "keep up" with the Brewers or Jones' or whoever. We need to remember the true Reason for the Season, and "Keep up" with God and do what He wants us to do.

~Photobug

42 Years Ago...the first manned Saturn V!

Exactly 42 years ago today, Apollo 8 was launched. At 7:51am, December 21, 1968, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders were the first humans to ride the mammoth Saturn V rocket. Watch this (above) video and see this historic launch for yourself! :D

Be sure to visit my actual blog to view this video! Read my previous article on Apollo 8 for more details. Be sure also to read NASA's article on Apollo 8.

~Photobug

Expedition 26 Docks Friday with ISS

Okay...so I know this is kinda old news, but the 2nd half of Expedition 26 docked successfully with the ISS last Friday!! This time (hehe) I remembered to watch it live. It was awesome! If you weren't able to watch the docking live, watch it all here in this post--see above video. :D

Remember, my videos do not play in Facebook or your e-mail inbox. Check my actual blog to view.

~Photobug

The First Christmas--with Facebook

Hey Everyone!! I was just browsing my Facebook when I ran across the absolute coolest video I've ever seen! It's the story of Joseph, Mary, and the birth of Jesus told as if there was Facebook around back then. It's totally cool! Sorry, I just can't explain it well enough. You gotta see it!

Remember, this video does not play in Facebook or your e-mail inbox. Check my actual blog to see the video.

Merry Christmas!
~Photobug

The Original "Best Story Ever"

¹ Now it came to pass in those days, there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be enrolled.
 ² This was the first enrolment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
 ³ And all went to enrol themselves, every one to his own city.
 ⁴ And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David;
 ⁵ to enrol himself with Mary, who was betrothed to him, being great with child.



⁶ And it came to pass, while they were there, the days were fulfilled that she should be delivered.
 ⁷ And she brought forth her firstborn son; and she wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Expedition 26 Launched Today Towards ISS

Well....I knew there was going to be a Russian space launch coming up, I just missed it by a few hours! :( Here's a video (above) of the successful launch of Dmitry Kondratyev, Catherine Coleman and Paolo Nespoli aboard Expedition 26, launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakstan today, at 2:09p.m. They are scheduled to dock with the International Space Station at 3:12p.m., EST on Friday. 


Learn more about the flight and launch here.


Well anyway, thought you might enjoy the launch video! Remember, videos do not play in e-mail or Facebook. To watch this video, you must come to my actual blog. 


~Tennessee Photobug

A Precedent-Setting President

FYI: This week in American History I learned quite a bit about George Washington. Here's an essay I wrote about him--hope you enjoy it! :) ~Photobug

As the United States of America was being born, why did our leaders pick George Washington to be our first President? Quite simply, Washington was the best. He became a precedent-setting President.

Born in 1732, Washington was the second son of a wealthy Virginia planter. Unfortunately, when young George was only 11 years old, his father died. Five years later when he turned 16, Washington became a surveyor, marking off plots of land in the wilderness frontier, so people wouldn’t squabble over what belonged to whom. In 1752, Washington’s older brother died, thus making Washington the owner of the family plantation, Mount Vernon. Later in the 1750s Washington became involved in the Seven Years’ War, and was right in the middle of everything the whole time.

Washington married Martha Custis in 1759, and married into a very rich family. Washington had been rich before, but now he was one of the most influential men of all New England. Washington got involved with politics and was elected to the House of Burgesses, and promoted colonial rights actively. Later he was elected to the Continental Congress, and became the Commander-in-Chief of the American army in the Revolutionary War.

While Washington suffered more defeats than victories, everyone still liked him and held him in very high esteem. Through everything, he kept his men together—and alive. He did have some victories, and with the help of the French, was victorious over the world-renowned British Army.

George Washington became the most respected man in America.

Footprints in the Dust

Footprints in the dust. What comes to mind when you hear that phrase? For me, it reminds me of a recent space book I've read, and one of the finest. Since Footprints in the Dust did not fit nicely into an Armchair Astronaut slot, I've decided to have fun and talk about this book now. :)

Footprints in the Dust is a book on the Apollo lunar landing missions, Skylab, and even the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP). Edited by Colin Burgess, it is the compilation of many writer's works. While each chapter is written by a different author, some authors have written several chapters in the book. 

Footprints in the Dust is the third book in the Outward Odyssey series, the preceding volumes entitled Into that Silent Sea and In the Shadow of the Moon. Together, these books cover both Soviet and American manned spaceflight from 1961-1975. Footprints in the Dust covers the years 1969-1975, and was published just this year!

As mentioned earlier, Footprints in the Dust starts with Apollo 11. After the first lunar landing, one reads about the hilarious Pete Conrad and his Apollo 12 crew, completing the second successful lunar landing in 1969. Moving on, one reads of the ill-fated Apollo 13 crew of Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert. I thought that the Apollo 13 chapter name was well picked; it's entitled, "Apollo 13, we have a solution". :) 

I've read the Apollo 13 story many times, but each time I read it the fact strikes me once again how marvelous that rescue was. It's just amazing what people, with God's help, were able to come up with to save the crew. The Apollo 13 chapter in Footprints in the Dust is a must-read. 

Successfully bringing America back into space was none other than Alan Shepard himself.

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

It's snowing in Tennessee! Really the first snow of the season, as we just had barely any snow last Sunday (and I wasn't able to take any pictures.) Don't know how much will stick, or for how long, but snow's still fun! :D

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it SNOWWWWWWW! :D

~Photobug

I, The Cat Return

Hi. I, the Cat, His Royal Highness, King Emperor of the Entire House, Pumpkin Pie the First, do return and give you a second interview and glimpse into my ideal life.

As I'm sure you remember, we cats really rule the house. We can get away with just about anything we want to, especially if you have a loving human who really likes you, like I do.

The humans may think they get us felines for their enjoyment and pleasure. I, for one, am here to tell you that that is not true. While the human's pleasure may be a fringe benefit of keeping felines, that is not the main reason.

Cats are above all. The humans are merely our servants. Humans have cats, cats have servants. If there is any variation from our purr-fect life we rightfully express and demand immediate correction to this problem.

While other problems do occur, mainly we will complain about low food levels (anything under 90% full is terrible), low water levels (do the humans think we can survive without water??), our kitty box being not fastidiously clean (some things are just a plain must), our humans not home and petting us all the time (petting me is the most important thing of all!), or the fire not sufficiently warm enough. Of course, one of our favorite things to do is to complain when there is no reason whatsoever to complain! (shhhhh, don't tell that to the humans!)

God's Creations--All different, yet all beautiful

Snowfall in our front yard.
Can you spot the falling snowflakes?

Ahhh....snowflakes, snow, and that wonderful time all children know...when they can go out and play in the snow! December is the time of year for us at least when the weatherman starts predicting the possibility of little flurries of white wonder falling on our little corner of Tennessee.

While our family does enjoying playing in the snow, one of my favorite things about a snowfall is watching the snow fall gently and quietly to the ground as it covers the ground in a blanket of white. (I especially enjoy this activity when I'm inside by the nice warm fire!)

As I gaze out our front window (see above picture) it's really hard for me to believe that each snowflake is different. I mean, in my pictures I just see them as white blurs! When they've fallen to the ground I see them in quantity as blankets of white. I remember reading about "Snowflake" Wilson Bentley as a child, and just marveling at the beauty and individuality of each snowflake. How can each snowflake be different in thousands, millions of snowflakes? All having six sides, all different and beautiful in their own way.

Chronicles of my Early December Life

So. Yes, I am seriously still alive! :D I know it's been like decades since I've posted about my life, and not just devotionals or space posts! :P

But anyway, I've been enjoying life. School, work, chores and reading take up most of my time. So reading is really why I haven't blogged for a while. Yesterday I finished my latest space book, Footprints in the Dust, edited by Colin Burgess. It was extremely good, on the Apollo lunar missions, not to mention Skylab or ASTP. I highly recommend it! You'll here about it more in the future, I'm sure. :) Footprints in the Dust is my 20th space book I've read in roughly the past year.

I have been enjoying the start of the Christmas season. Last week our family put up our Christmas tree! That was grand fun. On Sunday our family attended a Christmas brunch put on by the university at which Dad works. Yesterday Mom and Alison made some delicious roll-out cookies, with sprinkles on them!! I was hoping to be named "Chief Taste-Tester", but unfortunately that role is not only mine! :D

Anyway, above are some pictures I've taken of the tree going up and the cookies being made. If you are reading this on Facebook or by e-mail, you will want to visit my actual blog, as the Picasa slideshow is only viewable on my blog. Enjoy!

~Photobug

P.S.--while you're on my blog, be sure to check out the Peanuts strips, updated daily! :)

A Subject I Almost MISSed, Part 5

What's happening: In this 5-part series I'm talking about the different space books I've been reading this school year. Right now I'm talking about the Apollo 11 lunar landing. There have been alarms going off like crazy in the lunar module's computer, and the automatic system is taking Armstrong and Aldrin into a crater pit. That would not be a good landing. So Armstrong takes over manually, and is flying Eagle across the moon, looking for a suitable landing place. Just one small problem: Eagle's only got a minute's worth of fuel left, then mission rules call for an abort. ~Photobug

Amazingly, Armstrong settled Eagle on the moon with less than 30 seconds’ fuel remaining. Mission Control—and really the world—completely let loose and were absolutely ecstatic that man was on the moon.

“Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”

Reading the story of the mission was just fascinating. I loved reading the script of what Mission Control and the astronauts said. I just thought it was really neat! And of course reading about the moonwalks were awesome too.

Okay…now for some more stories. Of course First on the Moon talked about the astronaut’s childhoods and previous careers, which I thought was interesting. It also talked about launch day. Nurse Dee O’Hara, who was the astronauts' nurse from Mercury to the Space Shuttle, teased Mike Collins as he was prepping to launch. I’m paraphrasing, but I remember the conversation something like this:

O’Hara: Hey, Mike, where are you going to watch the launch from?

Collins: Hopefully not the beach.

O’Hara: Well, I’ll use my powers and see if I can get you a seat high up…you know, the higher the better.

Collins: Thanks, and could you get seats for these two guys (Armstrong & Aldrin) over here too?

I thought that was pretty funny. Of course the astronauts were going to get a good seat…VERY high up…363 feet high!

Coats, Robes, and God

I really don't know why, but I don't especially relish the thought of winter coming. Perhaps it's the long, lazy days of summer, of the autumn's glorious splendor, but I don't really like it when I have to wear my thick winter coat outside. Not to say that I don't appreciate my coats; I really do! But I just don't like thick coats and winter cold.

This wonderful event of winter coming is happening about now. This past Wednesday my mother informed me that "jacket season" was over as I dashed from house to car carrying my jacket through the cold. So, trying to be a good teen, when I went to my church work this past Thursday I wore my coat. Of course, I didn't wear it inside the nice, warm, church, but when I worked outside the church my thick winter coat was very appreciated! I suppose I do not particularly wearing my thick winter coat; it's more the hard, excruciating process of putting my coat on and off! (and then when I'm having the most trouble putting my coat on, my 6-year-old sister gives me a suggestion...and it works! Little sisters aren't supposed to be that smart, right??)

I've been thinking about coats and winter cold lately. To survive in the cold you need a coat to keep you warm. It's essential. If we don't have a coat we're not going to have a happy ending. I think the idea of coats and cold can apply to the spiritual realm as well. We have to weather living in this harsh, cold, and miserable planet until Jesus comes and picks us up. To help us survive in this climate, Jesus has given us robes, robes of righteousness.

In Isaiah 61:10 Isaiah declares:

Apollo 8: A Mission Often Forgotten (Armchair Astronaut, Dec. 2010)

Welcome to this second edition of Armchair Astronaut! :D In this issue of the column I'm going to talk about a mission that's often forgotten, and while not well-remembered, very historic and risky.

Apollo 11 is a well-remembered mission. And why not? It was the first mission to land on the moon. NASA had finally completed JFK's challenge of the decade to land a man on the moon and bring him back safely in the 1960s. But people oft forget the missions, the people, the steps and risks taken to complete this challenge. Apollo 8 was one of those missions. First manned mission to use a Saturn V. First manned mission to fly to the moon and orbit it. And first to safely return from another world.

Recently I read an awesome book on Apollo 8 written by Robert Zimmerman, and it's called "Genesis: the story of Apollo 8". "Genesis" is the December Armchair Astronaut book. While published 12 years ago, and it is 299 pages, it is just a totally awesome book!! I choose Genesis as Armchair Astronaut book for December because this month it will be 42 years since Apollo 8 flew!! In the rest of this article I will try to recall some of the stories and highlights I remember from reading this book.

The mission of Apollo 8 as we know it certainly wasn't in NASA's original get-man-to-the-moon schedule. Apollo 8 was scheduled to experiment and test out the lunar module, the spacecraft specially designed for landing on the moon. See, the lunar module (LM) would separate from the command module (CM) and go land on the moon. The CM would serve as an orbiting base while the lunar module and its inhabitants were exploring the moon. When the astronauts in the LM were done on the moon, they'd fire up their engine and go and dock with the CM.All the astronauts were transfer over into the CM, and then the LM would be cast off.

So anyway. Grumman, the company responsible for producing the LM, was behind schedule. NASA had to come up with good mission objectives for Apollo 8 while not totally duplicating the mission of Apollo 7. Well, the moon was the goal. But what kind of lunar mission do you have without a lunar module? Well, you orbit around the moon! So that's what NASA decided. Apollo 8 and its crew of Frank Borman (commander), Jim Lovell (CM pilot) and Bill Anders (the LM-less LM pilot) would orbit the moon in the command module.

It was a bold move. So far, there had been no perfect tests of the Saturn V, the booster that would propel Borman and his crew to the moon. However, von Braun and his team believed that they had all the problems solved. So Apollo 8 would be the first manned test of a Saturn V.