spider and tree pics

As promised, here are spider and tree pics

This spider is outside our front door. We feed it boxelder bugs that we find in our house. In these pictures, it is feeding on one. It only comes out at night, so it was difficult to focus in on the spider.

Here are pictures of 2 Saturdays ago when Dad and I cut down limbs from my lawn. My dad was up in the tree with a chain saw like a crazy man. We even had a chain saw break down, and he went and bought a new one!

our first win

We got our first (and last) win in softball last night. Courtney hit a 2-run triple. And it wasn't one where the team made a throwing error and she ran an extra base. It was way over the outfielder's head and it was a guaranteed triple from that point on. We ended up winning by 2.

I will post some spider pics and my tree trimming adventure pics soon. But first, I want to post an article I came across today. It is written by the son of one of the martyrs speared by natives in Ecuador, and depicted in the movie "End of the Spear".

From http://natesaintlinks.blogspot.com/

If you want to read a long article bout it, please read on:




Angels, Yes, I think it was Angels
by Stephen Saint

A number of years ago Olive Fleming Liefeld and her second husband Walt visited the site in the Ecuadorian jungle where Olive’s first husband Pete had been speared to death, along with Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Jim Elliot and my father Nate Saint.

Flying into a remote jungle airstrip they were met by my father’s sister Rachel. Aunt Rachel and several members of the Waodani tribe led Olive and her husband down to the sandbar my dad named Palm Beach.

Seeing for the first time the place where her husband had been killed, brought questions back to Olive’s mind – questions that had gone unanswered for over thirty years. Answering her questions, with Aunt Rachel translating, was Dawa, wife of one of the attackers who was present during the attack. Dawa, still a teenager at the time, hid in the dense cane bordering the far side of the river, opposite Palm Beach, afraid to actually watch or take a more aggressive role.

As Dawa recognized Olive’s interest in what had happened that memorable day – a day that shocked and transfixed much of the world, both Christian and non – she began to volunteer information that she thought might be of interest.

In the middle of her commentary she pointed to a place above the jungle canopy bordering the ridge just south of Palm Beach. “That is where we heard the Cowodi (foreigners) singing,” she stated matter-of-factly. As Aunt Rachel translated, Olive stopped her, “What does she mean she heard foreigners singing above the trees?”

Dawa said they were dressed in cloth like she saw a group of Cowodi do who sang in a church she visited with Rachel in the U. S.

Olive, Walt and Aunt Rachel wondered if it could possibly have been a choir of angels. What a wonderful and humbling tribute that would have been from a gracious God who had just had five sons killed, their spear riddled bodies dumped unceremoniously in the river by the beach where they had just two days before had an exciting and completely friendly first contact with two women and one man from the same village where their killers lived.

Olive wanted to include this account of angel visitation in her book, Unfolding Destinies, so she asked me to ask the three surviving Waodani warriors who had been part of that fateful killing party for verification. The opportunity came when I flew to Ecuador to help members of the tribe bury Aunt Rachel after she died of cancer.

One by one, each of the three men told me that they saw what appeared to be lights in the same place where Dawa had said she saw the heavenly choir. They were further away, which might explain that what they saw was different. But all of them said they heard singing. Nevertheless, they were somewhat tentative in their description.

Very recently when a project was initiated to make a feature film and a docudrama about the “Auca Story”, the script writers wanted to include the “angels singing over the Palm Beach martyrs.” As I reviewed the script I felt uncomfortable including any detailed reenactment of something that I was sure had taken place but which had only been vaguely described.

In January, 2002, I was asked to take the documentary film team to Ecuador to interview the Waodani who are the other half of the story. In the interviews with four of the five remaining Waodani survivors who took part in the Palm Beach attack in which my dad and his four friends were killed, I tried to elicit more definition to what I had been told previously, but without success.

The day after wrapping up the filmed interviews with the Waodani, the film group and I were joined by two friends of ours – Kevin McAfee and Steven Curtis Chapman. They had flown out to join us to do filming for Steven’s upcoming tour which will feature the “Auca Story,” as well as to film some footage for the documentary. Steven and I were sitting in the cooking house talking while Kimo, one of the warriors I had just interviewed, was trying to communicate with a member of the film team.

I was startled to hear music coming from the thatched long-house immediately behind us. Then I realized that Kevin was just checking out the sound equipment he had brought.

Suddenly Kimo turned towards the music and listened intently. After a minute he commented, “Manami ihindabopa,” (“Just like I heard it”).

I didn’t understand what he was referring to until I put together the obvious fact he was referring to the music and remembered that I had recently asked him about what he had heard at Palm Beach.

Kimo resumed his sign language conversation. Suddenly he turned towards the music once again and very specifically affirmed, “I have heard that before, long ago. That is what I heard, just like that, when your father died.”

I explained to Steven Curtis Chapman what Kimo was saying, then called to Kevin to hold the music at that spot. It was clear that Kimo was referring especially to one motif in the music as being what he remembered.

I invited Kimo to enter the long-house with us. Unfortunately, Kevin could not tell us specifically where on the CD the music Kimo was referring to was located. Kevin started playing various pieces on the soundtrack. I couldn’t remember enough of what it sounded like to identify it. As the fifth or sixth piece started to play, Steven Curtis Chapman commented, “I think this might be it.” Almost simultaneously Kimo declared, “I saw lights like stars and that is what I heard.” Then he added, “When I heard that long ago, I didn’t know what it was. I was afraid. Hearing it I knew we had done a bad thing there. Now, no longer living angry and hating, I see it well that you have returning brought this back to us.” (They don’t have a word for instrumental music that I know of). Then he got up and left the long-house.

Kevin pulled out the CD to find the title of the piece Kimo had identified. “You won’t believe this!” Kevin exclaimed. “Look,” and he pointed at the CD; “It is cut #8.”

Jesus told us, “Go into all the world and make disciples of all the nations.” My father and his four friends joined the ranks of thousands of “God followers” who have given their lives to fulfill that commission.
The title of the soundtrack Kimo recognized as being what he heard after killing my dad and Jim, Pete, Roger and Ed – a piece written by Ron Owen especially for the documentary film (being made to tell the story of God’s plan to reach a tribe of people off in the Amazon jungle who were insignificant in almost every way except that God loved them and wanted them to know they could become His children throughout the sacrifice of Iota “God’s only child, a son.”) – is “Every Tribe, Every Nation.”

God has entrusted “His very good carvings” to us! But only the uninitiated or extremely unobservant are wont to believe that He doesn’t still have His hand in seeing that His message reaches every tribe, every nation, every tongue and every people.

I have never questioned God’s right to use my father’s life. Dad turned his life over to God as a young boy. I have never asked for an apology from the men who killed him, and I have never received one. I never hated them or held anger against them so there was no forgiveness needed. I just accepted my dad was gone and with Jesus. It never occurred to me that I should forgive them for something which, though they meant for evil, God very clearly intended for good.

But as a father, I have agonized over what I have thought must have been going through Dad’s mind as he lay dying out in the middle of nowhere, betrayed by the very people he and his friends had so carefully and methodically befriended. His failure would leave Marjorie (my sweet mom) a widow. He would never teach his two little boys to fly. His little girl would never sit on Daddy’s lap to hear another original bedtime story. He would never again fly sick Indians to the new hospital he and Roger had been working so hard to complete. His passion for sharing the message that had set him free with people who had never heard was suddenly ended.

I have imagined all these years that this must have been the pain of Dad’s last conscious minutes of life. But now I believe that I was wrong. If Dawa, Kimo, Yowe, and Mincaye heard an angelic choir from the world beyond, I have no doubt that Jim, Ed, Pete, Roger and Dad were made even more aware of their presence. They didn’t die alone. Now I do believe that God sent a reception committee to sing for them and to escort them into His presence.As I listened to music, just written, which Kimo clearly asserted he had heard at Palm Beach, my heart swelled with a sense of well-being. God took what five men could not keep and exchanged it for something they cannot lose. It’s our turn now to make the same deal and give our lives away!

good weekend

I had a great weekend.

Friday, we went to Lowes with my parents. And we bought a kitchen sink disposal, a bathroom ventilation fan, and an above-mirror light fixture. Then we got a bidet. Just kidding, that was the first time I learned about those. From Wikipedia: "Users who are unfamiliar with bidets often confuse a bidet with a urinal, toilet, or even a drinking fountain. The user should use the toilet before using the bidet; its purpose is to wash afterwards"

Then we played Skip-Bo at my parents. We saw my grandparents, before they went to bed.

On Saturday, we went to YouthFront Camp West and Courtney lifeguarded. I went down the waterslide for the first time, and then at the end Courtney and I went down together. It was a blast! Then I played disc golf with Andy Garlich. Then we spotted my sister Mo at Wal-Mart.

On Sunday, I played guitar at the worship service at Community Covenant. Lots of people liked "Sweetly Broken". It was fun to be part of the service were people thought the music was awesome. You always have to focus it back on God.

Then we went to Courtney's parents' house. We fished 4 frogs out of their pool. (Because there was a lot of rain ever since Saturday night.) We saw Courtney's brother. Overall, we saw 8 relatives. So it was a great weekend!

baby shower

My cousin Ann Zouein had a baby shower. Courtney went. Ann, I think is the youngest cousin right now having a child. You have to understand my family...i have 30 cousins on the Taussig side, so we are experiencing exponential growth right now. And there is always someone having a baby.

I am leading worship at CCC again. The guest worship leader could not make it, so I was asked to fill in on guitar. And I get to be the lead vocalist on 2 songs. Please pray that I'd put God first as I sing, and then I know everything will feel right.

Courtney's new responsibilities

• I will be the communicator to Carrie for all the jobs we are contracting her for (camp brochure, altar promos, F/S M/D retreat brochures, golden pin stuff, etc.
• I will do all print media needs here at HQ: letterhead, envelopes, business cards, forms, etc.
• help people do things if they don't know how: scanning, convert to PDFs, laminate. I will use the big cutting machine in the PMB and be in charge of ordering paper/ printed products/ Risso supplies
• Content, and functionality online registrations & the store/giving section of youthfrontorg
• Maintain and safeguard the visual Corporate Identity and Image of YouthFront and its programs throughout all of YouthFront's external communications.
• (which means protect our logos and make sure they are not being misused)
• and finally, manage snack shop stock at both camps

See her site at http://www.youthfrontzone.com/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=2009

trying again

Trying to post...

redeemed myself

I hit a home run at softball last night. That is the first time I've ever hit a home run. That came on the heels of me striking out looking for the 2nd time in 3 at bats. The reason I strike out is because I greatly desire the Walk. In our league, if a guy walks, he gets to go to 2nd base, and the girl behind him gets to 1st base. Last season, I got at least one walk per game. That's why I usually bat leadoff. This season, the pitchers are better, and I have only walked once.

So I decided that I need to swing. So I got the home run and the double. We haven't won a game yet, and we have one more chance next week.

Wedding pictures

As you can imagine, it takes a while to go through 1,000 wedding pictures . No, I'm not kidding. Many of those are duplicates in blank and white though.

Here are the ones of the Taussig extended family! Enjoy! This is about half of my family on my mom's side. Many more were at the wedding, but they couldn't deal with our intense two-hours before the wedding picture time.

Here is me with my grandparents. I really love them!














Here is me working my smiling muscles! My Grandma said "Just think of Jesus and you'll smile!" Very good advice that I'll never forget.





Here's my 2nd cousins Nicholas Pierce and Rebekah Joy Taussig. They did a great job, and are so photogenic!











That's all for now! Stay tuned!

i'm stuck on the toilet

This is a funny quote that came out of my mouth in a non-crude way.

We were making a list of everything we want to do to renovate the bathroom. Then Courtney put it all in sequential order. She said we'd put the toilet in, and then install tiles. I was wondering if you instead should install tiles first, and then the toilet. Then she kept reading, and she said "Does that sound good?". And I said "I'm stuck on the toilet".

Courtney lifeguarded for a retreat at camp this weekend. I was there too. I did drive up to play bass at church, then I went back.

We saw Don and Lori Chaffer at the retreat - it was their church retreat. But i don't know if they still perform with Waterdeep or not. It was just fun to see them. I yelled something at Lori Chaffer about how hard it was to paddleboat by herself while holding her son. That was before Courtney mentioned who it was. It's probably not a big deal, but I thought it was worth noting.

My Cubicle

Here are the lyrics to my favorite song right now, to the tune of "You're Beautiful", by James Blunt. You'll only get it if you know the James Blunt song.

My Cubicle

My job is stupid my day’s a bore,
Inside this office from eight to four
Nothin’ ever happens my life is pretty bland,
Pretending that I’m working, pray I don’t get canned.

My Cubicle, My cubicle
It’s One of Sixty two
It’s my small space in a crowded place
Just a six-by-six foot booth
And I hate it that’s the truth

When I give a sigh as the boss walks by,
no one ever talks to me or looks me in the eye.
And I really should work but instead I just sit here and surf the Internet.

In My Cubicle, My cubicle
It doesn’t have a view.
It’s my small space in a crowded place
I sit in solitude.
And sometimes I sit here nude.

Guss likes uss

Saturday we went on a walk. We've walked all the way from the Kansas River to Olathe. We were walking near a neighborhood when we saw a stray dog walking on the street. Cars were veering out of the way of the dog. We followed the trail and the dog followed.

He peed 10 feet. Every 10 feet that is. And it was more of the motion of peeing, because there was not any left.

Anyway I looked at his tag, and there was his name, Guss, and his address and phone numbers. We didn't have a cell phone, so we went along and Guss followed us. Once he crossed the street to bark at another dog, and he paid absolutely no attention to traffic.

He was thirsty so I poured some water into Courtney's hands, and he drank from her hands.

We were approaching a big intersection, and knowing his street smarts, we picked him up. We went to the corner gas station, and borrowed a cell phone and called the number from the tag. "I have a dog with this number on it..." "I'm out looking for him, and I'm right down the street...Thanks!" So the man came and got him and sang "Guss has been a bad boy..."

Guss had yelped when I went away to call. We think he's close to his male owner.

Guss smelled really bad by the way, and the owner seemed defensive about that. "He doesn 't usually smell this bad..." So afterwards our hands smelled, but we held hands anyway.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Royals Thursday night. We got 2 free $20 tickets and a free parking pass from one of my co-workers. It was a beautiful night, great seats and parking, and a good break from the norm. The Royals didn't play well against the Twins, who are still in the race for the playoffs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Courtney's cooking.

Courtney cooked for me every night from Tuesday to Friday. It was really good. She also made me a dessert. (wheat-free meals and desserts aren't easy to come by...) Thanks Courtney!

posting a picture, finally

Here is a picture. More to come....

Losing Teams

If you grew up around me, you'd know I've been on more losing sports teams than winning ones. My softball team right now may be the worst team I've ever been on. We can't catch or hit. We have not won one game in the worst league.

There's the Video Library team from elementary school. My cousin Christian who was on the team, graciously said later in life. "I wonder why they would sponsor a little league baseball team, they have the biggest porn section ever!" Anyway, we won 1 game all season, I think. And the team we beat was pathetic, and was my previous team, I think.

There was the championship basketball team I was on in middle school. I contributed 1 point the first season, and 2 points the second season. And they were all free throws, I think. The first season, I stepped on the foul line during a made free throw, so it got taken away.

I was also on a winning team in college. The Grace Baptist men's softball team won the E league, and then graduated to D league and got blasted.

I was on the C-team of cross-country as varsity won state every single year. I guess that could be considered a winning team.

I don't remember any other teams I was on, but we were probably losers.

last wedding of the summer

Courtney's cousin got married on Saturday, which made the 3rd straight wedding this month, and the 6th since we got married. But this is the end for the summer.

The weirdest coincidences happen all the time. A groomsman in the wedding was Kevin Schmitt, the brother of Erik Schmitt, who died earlier this year. But I've known Kevin from church for over 10 years, and he happens to be best friends with Courtney's cousins new husband. I saw him this morning, again, at a post-wedding gift-opening time.

The other thing is that the groom, Levi Brockelman, is from Grinnel Kansas, a small town in Western Kansas. This wouldn't be a big deal, except, I have been to Grinnell and know someone from there. One of the first people I met at K-State was Greg Dickman, on the 9th floor of Haymaker. One time, a bunch of us went on a road trip to Grinnell, just to say that we went there. Anyway, the Brockelman's know Greg Dickman really well, and even told me that he got married recently.

Not much going on this week. I have a life-insurance medical exam on Tuesday evening, so I am not supposed to eat anything all day. I may have lunch with big sister Mo on Wednesday. And we'll be babysitting for Sophie on Aug 5.

Oh, yeah and we saved about $17 today, by use of coupons. Courtney is really alert and resourceful like that.

Last day of camp (for us)

We have the rehearsal dinner and wedding of Courtney's cousin (Laura Isenburg) this weekend, so Courtney is taking off from camp early. Plus, she is not at camp next week. So that made last night my last night at camp.

boxelder bugs

Hi there, it's another week at camp, and that means I am challenged for time. But mostly, I didn't feel like I had anything to write about, which was ridiculous, because there is always something happening.

We have lots of boxelder bugs outside our house. They escape the heat by seeking cooler places. They are harmless except they congregate (and naturally mate) on our front screen door. And they get inside the screen door somehow. Yesterday I used tape to block off the entrances. I don't know if it worked yet, because it's been a cool day, and they don't visit on cool days. Some of them get in the house, and I kill several a day. Courtney made a concoction with water and laundry detergent that seems to kill them in two sprays.

Then I fixed Courtney's parents' computer. NAV (norton anti-virus) had a pop-up every 2 seconds. On my first try the result was that I disabled https pages. So i went again and tried a different method, and it's working now.

softball

Did I write about softball yet? Courtney got two hits with 2 RBIs, and scored a run. She also caught a high pop-up, and then threw it to me at 2nd base to complete a double-play!

Monday night, we were hydration coordinators at camp. That is also called lemonade duty. The campers come from a long game in the woods, and we had prepared hundreds of cups of lemonade for them.

Then last night, there was a Code 1. Basically, "Code 1" comes over the radio (a nice walkie-talkie) , and every staff person runs like crazy down the hill to the dock. Basically, a teen got knocked in the head while blobbing, and had to lay down. He didn't suffer any injuries.

Courtney sang well

Courtney sang well in the wedding on Saturday. (And I played well too, but no one noticed) . This is a really huge deal. Imagine if you've never sung a solo in front of people, but then you sing your first one in front of 250 people at a wedding? She got a lot of good comments afterwards.

Then we saw a bunch of friends at the reception.

Leading worship was okay. All the high schoolers were gone to CHIC, so it felt kind of empty. But I'll Fly Away went well. No one understood my little intro about clapping on the off-beat. I'm sure it made no sense though. Oh well. I didn't get to introduce the new song, because the service went 30 minutes late.

worship leading

I am the guest worship leader at Community Covenant this week. It has actually been a good experience. Last night, we started practice 15 minutes late, and we got out 15 minutes early. And everyone thanked me for having such a quick practice. We're playing "I'll Fly Away" at the end, which I had some reservations about even though I chose the song. But it will be really fun. We're also singing a song named "Beautiful", written by a friend at camp. But when I chose the song, I didn't realize that he had wrote it. So we called him at camp, and he sang it to me over the phone, since I wasn't sure of the melody.

Courtney's been into doing sign language things on the computer, ever since I installed a $1 program onto it. She also found my old diary from high school and college. It's really strange to have someone read it, but it really was reserved for my wife someday.

Later,
Dan

Courtney's not at camp this week

Courtney's not at camp, but we're still busy.

Monday, softball was rained out so we went to my parents and practiced for the wedding. Courtney is singing, and I'm playing Canon in D.

Last night, my lawn mowing was rained out, so we went for a walk. I was supposed to pick worship songs for Sunday, but for some reason time flew by and I never got around to it.

Tonight is my new lawn mowing night, and we'll be vaccuuming cushions from our couch that had been in Courtney's parents' basement. And maybe we'll pick worship songs. And we'll practice a little more for the wedding.

Thursday is worship practice. Friday is a rehearsal dinner. Saturday we have the wedding. Sunday I'm worship leading.