Sweigart Family

Fall Colors

2009-10-25T14:56:00.008-04:00

To celebrate my favorite part of the season, here are a few pictures I took around our yard today:

Random Thoughts & Happenings

2009-10-08T16:19:00.001-04:00

It's been a few months since I last posted, and it's not that nothing's been going on. I got the idea for this post from Thomas Sowell, one of my favorite columnists.

I celebrated a my birthday on July 4th, and we had annual legal fireworks display in our driveway. There were several folks that live nearby that had quite a few other than legal fireworks, which were fun to watch & listen to.

In August Wesley and I participated in the WorshipGod09 conference, held at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD. We were blessed to be able to stay with Marge's sister, Nancy, and her family. You can download all of the teaching sessions that are available for free here.

I went with a group of over 250 folks from the Charlotte area to the 9-12 March on Washington DC on September 12th. We left from the WalMart parking lot in Belmont at 9:00 Friday evening, made five stops along the way to pick up folks, and arrived in Fredericksburg, VA around 5:30 AM. After breakfast we headed into DC, debarked along the Mall, then spent the next few hours gathering and marching up Pennsylvania Ave, and crowding onto the Capitol grounds. We left DC at 3:00, stopped in Fredericksburg for supper, and arrived back in Belmont just before 1:00 AM on Sunday. I had a great time, and can only hope there will be some positive effects from our time together.

This past Saturday I attended the Mises Circle in Greenville, SC. I've seen advertisements for these events, but they've usually been on the left coast or in Denver, which is a bit of a trip. The speakers were Douglas E French, Thomas DiLorenzeo, Robert Murphy, Jeffrey Tucker, ans Thomas Woods, and they spoke concerning Depression, Monetary Destruction, and the Path to Sound Money. Good stuff, and very scary.

The boy's room is now framed, and the drywall is up with the first coat of mud on. It's been a long process, due mostly to my procrastination (laziness?), but the end is in sight. They will be glad to be in their room, and we'll be glad to have our basement back to normal.

Now for the random thoughts part.

Recently Plaxico Burris was sentenced to two years in jail. His crime? Having something someplace the authorities said he may not. Plain & simple. That's all it amounts to.

Wouldn't it be great if our government would only do what it's allowed to under the Constitution? Our way of life would be much better, and we'd have many less problems.

I find it interesting that it's the baseball playoff season, and I read about the different teams and players, and don't have a clue who many of them are. Since the strikes a few decades ago, I have no desire or interest in baseball.

The Carolina Panthers are off to a rip-roaring start to this years NFL season. Hopefully they'll continue to improve, very quickly, and get some wins.

I hope our elected officials wake up and realize that these proposed so-called "health care reform" and cap and trade (climate change regulation) bills are some of the worst legislation ever, without a doubt. It's amazing how many socialists there are in our country, preferring to call themselves "progressives," since the term socialist isn't particularly popular (I wonder why?).

Near Auburn, Alabama, 25 people have been arrested for purchasing more then the legal amount of decongestant. Yep, that's right. They've been charges with "One count unlawful possession of a precursor." Here is the local news article, and here is a link to an article by Jeffrey Tucker discussing the arrests.

While I've never particularly been a fan of Michael Vick, I'm thankful he's back playing pro. football. He broke the rules, was tried and convicted, served his time, and that is that. It's unfortunate so there are so many that won't let him move on with his life.

Chick-fil-A's chicken, egg, & cheese bagel is delicious. I had a couple last month, during their Tuesday morning special.

That's all for now. I will not make it so long before my next post, really, I won't.

Civil War Soldier Camp

2009-06-29T18:29:00.014-04:00

In early June, Ben participated in the Civil War Soldier Camp at Latta Plantation in Huntersville. NC. This was his second year participating, and he had a great time. His only disappointment was having to be a Yankee during the Cold Harbor re-enactment. They had many more Confederate soldiers than Union, so Ben and several others wore Federal blue during the Cold Harbor re-enactment, to make the sides more even.

Ben was promoted to the rank of corporal this year. Congratulations, Ben!

Below are some pictures taken on the last day of camp.

The battle ground before the soldiers arrived

Latta Plantaion house

The Confederates on the move

The battle is underway

The Confederates in position, the Federals advancing

The Confederate soldiers left their initial position, following the Federal attack.

Ben is wearing the red shorts

Following the battle

Drilling for the parents

Present arms

Final muster

Lot's Been Happening

2009-06-04T19:24:00.003-04:00

There's been a lot happening with us Sweigarts lately, so I'll hit a few of the highlights.

We have two new-to-us vehicles, both Civics, a '93 & '05. I traded my truck in on the '93, and Anna chose the '05 as her first car.

Anna's Civic is in the body shop at the moment, having the rear-end replaced, after it encountered a guard rail after hydroplaning on Memorial Day. Thankfully there were no injuries, which we are very grateful for.

We traveled to MD last weekend for Ian & Angelita's wedding, and had a wonderful time. It was an up and back trip, leaving on Friday morning and returning on Saturday evening. You can see some of the wonderful wedding pictures at the photographer's blog, here.

Marge and I attended our first Camping World Series Truck race on May 15th, and Ben and I attended the Nationwide Series CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 on May 23rd. Following the Nationwide race I was parked in, and enlisted the help of four local high school students to 'assist' me in moving the offending vehicle out of the way. We were able to get free tickets for both races through work connections.

Another school year has come to a close at Sweigart Academy. Emily, Anna, & Wesley finished up the spring semester at CPCC, and Anna & Wesley are both taking classes during the summer session, which started three weeks ago.

We've been having plenty of rain the past few weeks, so everything is very green and lush. A week between cuttings is almost too long for the grass.

Marge has been doing a lot of work in the yard, trimming back our azalea's, pulling & digging up multitudes of saplings (and not so saplings), and raking up several years accumulation of leaves.

Marge and I attended our first Charlotte City Council meeting, to show solidarity against a proposal concerning a request to Raleigh to allow Charlotte to have a referendum on a 1/2¢ sales tax increase, to help fund, you guessed it, mass transit (again). The State bill this concerns is titled "Congestion Relief and Intermodal Transportation 21st Century Fund Legislative Act." We were disappointed with the vote, as they voted to make the request to Raleigh.

Christianne started working at Chick-fil-A in May, so our four oldest children are currently employed at the Mt. Island Chick-fil-A. Anna has also been promoted to Supervisor.

Ben has really been looking forward to going to Civil War camp at Latta Plantation next week. He attended last year and really enjoyed it, and has been patiently waiting for this year's camp to begin ever since.

So, that's a little bit of what's been happening with these past few weeks. Maybe I'll have some pictures to post soon.

I Love This Doctor (from a recent email)

2009-05-19T18:17:00.006-04:00

Wesley received this today in an email, and I thought you might enjoy the humor as much as I did:

I love this Doctor

Q: Doctor, I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true?
A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it... don't waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?
A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.

Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?
A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine, that means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain. Bottoms up!

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?
A: Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.

Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?
A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No Pain...Good!

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?
A: YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!!! ..... Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?

Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?
A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.

Q: Is chocolate bad for me?
A: Are you crazy? HELLO Cocoa beans! Another vegetable!!! It's the best feel-good food around!

Q: Is swimming good for your figure?
A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.

Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?
A: Hey! 'Round' is a shape!

Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.

And remember:

'Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming 'WOO HOO, What a Ride!'

AND.....

For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.

1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

CONCLUSION

Eat and drink what you like.
Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

Everyone Else is Doing it, so Why Not?

2009-04-29T18:40:00.003-04:00

Rules:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search (http://www.flickr.com/).
b. Using ONLY the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Mosaic Maker. Change rows to 4 and columns to 4 (http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php).

d. Save the image and post it!

Questions:
1. What is your name? Steve
2. What is your favorite food? Pizza
3. What is your hometown? Quarryville, PA
4. What is your favorite color? Duke blue
5. What is your favorite movie? It's a Wonderful Life
6. What is your favorite drink? Iced Tea (sweet)
7. What is your dream vacation? British Isles
8. What is your favorite dessert? homemade apple pie
9. What is one word to describe yourself? friendly
10. How are you feeling right now? normal?
11. What do you love most in the world? my wife
12. What do you want to be when you grow up? too late for that
13. Favorite Hobby? coin collecting
14. What kind of books do you like? Louis L'Amour westerns
15. What’s your favorite sport? Track & Field
16.Where do you work? Airgas National Welders

March Madness Retires, until 2010

2009-04-07T18:15:00.004-04:00

With the final buzzer in last night's NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship game between the UNC Tarheels and the Michigan State Spartans, March Madness 2009 came to a quite close, at least here in our house. The game wasn't particularly exciting, unless you're a Tarheel fan, which none of us are.

Here's the final outcome of our family bracket challenge. Ben was the only one who correctly chose UNC to win the championship. We had a three way tie for first between Marge, Anna, & Christianne, who each had 43 correct. Wesley and I had 42 each, and were followed by Ben with 41, then Emily, who I'll suffice it to say that she had less than 41 correct.

Since we have a three way tie based on the number of correct game winners, I need to come up with a tie-breaker. I can't use who correctly picked the most teams participating in the championship game, because both Anna & Christianne had UNC going to the final. Anna selected three of the Final Four correctly, so she's our winner. Congratulations, Anna!

The prize will be a gift certificate to a yet to be decided store of her choosing. She's at her German class at CPCC right now, so she'll have to wait until she returns home to hear the news, and select her store.

Next year's season starts in just over six months, but we've got plenty to keep us busy between now and then.

Final Four Brackets

2009-03-30T18:43:00.005-04:00

Yes, another post on our brackets. Four of us still have active brackets, meaning that there is the possibility to accumulate more wins, and the other three are finished, with no chance for any more correct predictions.

Who might these four be, you ask? Well they aren't the oldest three in our family. Anna has three of the Final Four correct, Christianne has two, and Wesley and Ben each have one. Marge also has one correct Final Four prediction, but she picked them to loose to a team that already lost, so she's done. If you do the math, that leaves both Emily & me with none of our Final Four correct.

Overall, Marge has the most correct picks, so far, and there is a three way tie for second between Anna, Christianne, and me.

Enjoy the down time, 'cause the weekend will be here before you know it, as the Madness continues into April.

Tuesdays are Different

2009-03-24T17:06:00.005-04:00

Tuesdays are not "normal" at our house, not that any other days are either. It's just that on Tuesdays there are several things that take place that don't on other days.

Christianne has her dance class, so when I get home from work, Marge and Christianne are not here. It's rare that they aren't here, and it's a strange feeling to come home to a house and not be greeted by my darling wife, and to not see my youngest daughter. Wesley was also gone, over at a friends house practicing with his bandmates. Emily and Anna were home from work already, and Ben was here, too.

Both Emily and Anna have an evening class, so they are off to school around 5:00. I do see them briefly before they leave. Anna's German class is only on Tuesday, but Emily's ASL class also meets on Thursday evenings.

With Marge being gone in the late afternoon, she does a great job coming up with meals that can cook while she's away. Often she's prepared something in the crock-pot, or a pot of soup, but tonight we're having stuffed shells. I put them in the oven at 5:02, and they'll be ready to eat right about the time the rest of the family gets home.

Don't tell Marge, but I did eat one of the extra shells she set aside for the girls to eat before school. It was delicious, and I'm looking forward to eating quite a few more.

How are your Brackets?

2009-03-23T18:52:00.003-04:00

We made it through the first two rounds of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, despite the lack of sleep. There were some disappointing outcomes in a few of the first round games, namely the losses of BC, Clemson, FSU, and #4 ranked Wake. We had hoped the ACC would make a little better showing. MD lost to Memphis in the second round, so now it's only Duke and the baby blue boys from Chapel Hill.

Marge, Wesley and I are tied with 14 correct teams in the Sweet 16. I am in the lead overall, having picked 39 of 49 winners correctly, and we have a three way tie for second between Marge, Anna, & Wesley.

I took the day off on Friday, and believe it or not, the tournament didn't influence my decision.

The dance picks back up on Thursday evening, and we'll be staying up late to watch the Duke vs. Villanova game.

I think I've decided what the prize will be for the winner or our bracket challenge, although I'm not saying what it is just yet. If I happen to be the winner, I'll forfeit the prize, and none will be awarded. It's not much fun winning your own prize.

I'd like to hear how you're doing in your selections, if you, too, are a sufferer of March Madness.

March Madness

2009-03-16T19:01:00.003-04:00

It's that time of year again, March Madness. The conference championships have concluded, and the teams have been selected for the Big Dance, the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Tournament.

Here at the Sweigart home, we are Duke Blue Devil fans. We enjoyed watching them win the ACC tournament yesterday afternoon, and enjoyed watching UNC go down to Florida State in the semi-finals almost as much.

We'll be watching quite a bit more TV than usual over the next few weeks, especially on the weekends.

When Marge and I were first married we weren't particularly into college basketball, but that hasn't been the case for years. We both laugh now when we remember Grant's words during our wedding, when he referenced the NCAA's, and the potential for conflict, if Marge would ask me to go out and get some milk or other necessity during one of the games. She enjoys watching as much as I do, and whatever we might need can surely wait 'til the game is over, or at least until half-time.

We have a friendly family contest, with a yet to be decided prize going to the person who has the most correct selections on their tournament bracket. The funny thing with brackets is that all it takes is one or two games going other than predicted to really lower your chances.

Duke is the 2nd seed in the East Region and will be playing the 15th seeded Binghamton Bearcats. The Bearcats beat UMBC 61-51 on Saturday to claim their first ever American East championship, and their first NCAA tournament berth.

So, if you call us during the tournament, you'll probably get our answering machine, 'cause we'll be watching the dance.

Some Real Snow

2009-03-02T18:19:00.007-05:00

It's been nearly a month since we had out last somewhat winter weather, and since I last posted, but we really got some yesterday and last night. Marge has two posts on her blog, and Emily, Wesley, & Christianne, each have a post of their pictures, so other than this one picture Marge took, I'll just direct you to their blogs for your viewing pleasure.

Last night's snow + Benedict the snowman

I went in to work at my normal time this morning, and it took me about the same amount of time as usual. The roads were mostly clear, both of snow and traffic. After working more than two hours, Marge called me and said she'd just gotten a phone call that we would be opening at noon. I understand there was some sort of problem accessing the automated system that calls the employees, but I guess there isn't a backup plan.

With the snow, all the schools were closed, which includes the Driver's Ed. class Christianne was supposed to start today. Hard to believe she'll be old enough to get her permit in another month.

Emily & Anna will have quite a change in weather next week, as they will be attending Rekindle '09, our church's M28 college ministry annual retreat, held in Laguna Beach, FL. Things sure won't be the same with both of them gone. This will be the longest they've been away from home, without us.

I guess the groundhog was right this year, and we're having our six more weeks of winter as predicted.

Winter in Charlotte

2009-02-04T18:37:00.011-05:00

We've had our second dusting of snow in three weeks, and at our house we got a total of about 1/8" of snow, if that much. The first snow we got an ever so light dusting, and then last night we got enough that it pretty much covered the ground. Other parts of town received two to three inches both times.

Our first snow

This morning's snow

This morning the phone rang a little after 5:00, and it was a recorded message from CPCC notifying us that all day & evening classes were canceled. At that time, I wasn't aware that it had even snowed. I took Emily to work at 5:30, and the road in front of our house was perfectly clear. There was a light dusting of snow a couple of places down the road, but they were mostly clear. I 485 was clear as well, so I couldn't figure it out. There was a little ice at the first intersection I came to, but nothing they should cancel school for. My trip in to work took about the same amount of time as usual.

One of my co-workers, who lives on the SE side of town, said the roads were really bad near her house, and she saw several wrecks. Her normal 25 min. drive took an hour. When she attempted to stop at her first red light, she slid right through the intersection, thankful there were no other cars on the road.

It was in the mid teens this morning, and will be down to the low 20s tonight. But, we're in Charlotte, so it won't be cold for long. They are calling for the mid 50s on Friday, and well into the 60s this weekend. Gotta' love it.

(Pictures by Christianne)

Donating Blood

2009-01-29T18:39:00.005-05:00

Today was another blood drive at WBTV, one of our local TV stations, and as I mentioned in a previous post, is only about two miles from where I work. So, being as it's nearby, and the Red Cross has been calling me to come in for a donation, I thought this would be an opportune time to give again.

I talked briefly with Al Conklin while we were both waiting to donate. The line was moving fairly slow, and he had to head back to work before donating. I saw Luther again, the 82 year old man I met last year while donating, who was donating his 123rd pint. I also talked to another Red Cross volunteer I've met before, who's 83 and has donated 129 pints. I don't think I'll make it to half as many pints as either of them have donated.

I found out that NC has recently allowed 16 year olds to donate, with parental consent, and I understand that the High School donations are going pretty well.

I want to insert this "warning" here. If you don't like needles or blood you're probably not reading this post anyway, but if you are, you might want to just skip the next paragraph.

So, how did it go today? For the most part it was fine, once the blood started flowing. I was fortunate enough to have an inexperienced blood drawer, and she managed to insert the needle too far into my vein. Yes, it was fun. As she was inserting it I was thinking "man, she sure is sticking this in pretty far" and sure enough, she was. I looked down after she was finished, and she commented something along the lines of "something isn't right," which was obvious because no blood was in the tube. She called over another more experienced person who was able to extract the needle slightly and my donation started. I did have a minimal amount of bleeding, and my arm is a bit sore, but I'm sure I'll be just fine. I thought they might need to reinsert the needle, so I was thankful they didn't need to, at least I don't think they did. I wasn't watching.

After donating I felt fine, and enjoyed a bowl of Shoney's potato soup, a glass of Coke, a pack of Lance crackers, an oatmeal cream pie, and a Fig Newton. That's the real reason I donate blood, for the free food afterwards. They gave me a long sleeve t-shirt which I accidentally left sitting on the table, but I've only worn the one I got last year a time or two so that's fine with me.

This was my 16th pint since living in Charlotte, and even with the problems I had today, I look forward to the next time I donate.

Life Goes On

2009-01-28T18:15:00.009-05:00

It's a beautiful Wednesday night here in Charlotte. There were some amazing clouds earlier this evening with some beautiful colors. I guess some sort of front moving through. Wesley took these pictures, which don't do it justice, but you can get some idea of what it looked like. We got some rain today, and the high was 60°.

Emily and Anna will be going to the M28 Big Meeting this evening, and the rest of us will be here at home. Don't have anything in particular in mind to do tonight, but I do hope to be able to listen to some of the Duke vs Wake Forest game. Go Duke!

We celebrated Ben's 12th birthday on the 11th. It's hard to believe he's that old. He attended his first Quest222 (parent's & youth) meeting and also his first care group meeting.

Emily, Anna, & Wesley started school at CPCC on the 13th, and have been enjoying their classes. Emily is taking her second ASL class, Anna has a full schedule with Ballet, Calculus, Economics, English, & German classes, and Wesley is in his first concurrent enrollment semester, taking English and an online Intro. to Computers class.

I am thankful for my job, being with Airgas National Welders for over 17 years. Because of the current economic circumstances that we're in the midst of, the company had it's first layoffs in it's 67 year history. They have also eliminated unfilled positions and cut out all overtime. I'm salaried so the overtime doesn't effect my pay, but there has been a little extra work involved.

It's been a blessing having gas prices get back down to a much more reasonable level. They have gone up about 30¢ over the past month, but are less than half of what they were, down from their peak in September, when I was happy to pay $4.19, if I could find it.

Late January is time for filing tax returns, and I've begun working on ours. I hope to get them filed within a week. Our working children have filed their Fed. returns already. Call me old fashioned, or maybe dumb, but I prefer to file a paper return. I actually enjoy the process, really, I do. I look at it as a challenge to find ways to get back as much of my money as I can from my multi-trillion dollar debtor Uncle Sam.

So, that's what's been happening the past two weeks with us. Life goes on.....

Vehicular Happenings

2009-01-12T17:31:00.007-05:00

Here is a picture of our newly repaired Honda.

It has two new front tires, too. It was due for an oil change, so I took it to our regular mechanic. After they finished the oil change, they called me out to the shop. One of the front tires had the tread worn down to the cords. It was on the inside edge of the tire, so we hadn't noticed. I'm thankful they were able to get them on that afternoon, and do a front-end alignment.

On Thursday morning when I went out to start my truck to go to work, the instrument panel lit up and then went dark, and there was nothing. No power at all. I didn't have time to check it then, but was able to on Friday after work, and found that it was simply a loose battery cable.

Our Car is Fixed!

2009-01-06T19:59:00.005-05:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, our car was involved in an accident the end of November. The insurance adjuster said it was totaled. It had some relatively minor front end and hood damage, but a 1990 vehicle doesn't have much value as far as insurance or property taxes (assessed value of $270) are concerned. But to us it is a very important part of our transportation picture. This picture was taken the night of the accident, after driving the car home.

The car was drivable, but needed a little work before I'd let the girls or Marge drive it. I was able to borrow a come-along from a co-worker to pull out the front end, and I bent the hood so it wasn't obstructing the driver's line of sight. It wasn't pretty but it would get someone safely from point A to point B.

Yesterday morning we dropped it off at Coffey Body Shop on Wilkinson Blvd. here in Charlotte, and they had it ready around 4:00 today. They replaced the hood, both headlights and their housings, a signal light, the grill, and a fan assembly, and repaired a fender for less $900. The car looks better now than it did before the accident, and there will be an after picture posted soon.

Hopefully we'll get many more years of service out of our Honda. She hasn't hit 200k miles yet, but should pass that milestone this year.

The many sounds I hear

2009-01-05T18:12:00.004-05:00

Before supper this evening I was outside throwing the football around with Ben, and was amazed by all the different sounds that I was hearing, or had heard, within the past hour or so. Here's a list of the different sounds I've heard during the past two hours:

Train whistle & diesel locomotive, passenger jets flying overhead, tractor-trailers, cars, pickup trucks, & motorcycles driving down the road, car alarm, a trash truck backing up, dogs barking, drums playing, guitar strumming, my neighbor's punk rock band rehearsing, leaves rustling, twigs snapping, water running, doors closing, voices speaking, laughing, & singing, guns shooting, a toilet flushing, ivy vines snapping as they are pulled up from the ground, plastic trash cans rubbing against branches, hard drive humming, zebra finches chirping, door knobs turning, water boiling, drawers opening & closing, barrel bolt locking & unlocking, dirty shoes scraping on the door mat, trash can lid closing, deadbolts locking, mailbox opening & closing, and a football being caught, punted, & dropped.

I saw several birds outside, but no sound did they make.

Isn't is amazing how many distinct sounds there are, and how many of them can go unheard if we're not listening?

Time is Passing, Quicker than We Think

2009-01-02T16:20:00.008-05:00

Here we are, already nearing the end of the second day of 2009. I remember when the year 2000 seemed like it was a long way off, and before than 1990, and before that 1980. And 2010 is a mere 363 days away! Where does the time go?

Like when I'm on vacation. At first the time seems to pass by so slowly, and I have an entire week to spend away from work and my normal routine in a beautiful house at the beach. Then about mid-week I start thinking "Man, only three more days then we'll be heading home. Where has the time gone?" Or maybe an upcoming project is due, and there are weeks and weeks to get it done, but then before I know it, it's due by the end of the week and it's already hump day. Can you relate?

Last year both Marge & I turned 50, we celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary, we had two children graduate from high school, and our youngest started 6th grade. For crying out loud, I remember when I was in sixth grade, and it wasn't that long ago. At least that's how it seems.

I've heard different explanations as to why it seems that the older you get the faster time passes, but none of them really suffice. Personally, I think it's a combination of the amount of time a year is in relation to the years that you've lived, all the events that have taken place in your life, and the busyness of life.

The scriptures refer to our lives as a breath, a few handbreaths, nothing, a mere breath, a wind that passes and comes not again, smoke, and a mist that appears and then vanishes. Pretty impressive, huh? These never used to make much sense to me, but as I recognize that my life is nearly half way over (I'm very optimistic & hopeful) I'm starting to get the picture. (Job 7:7, Psalms 39:5, 78:39, 94:11,102:3, James 4:14)

Just a little something to keep in mind if you happen to think life is passing by quickly.

A few Christmastime pictures & New Year's Eve

2008-12-30T18:26:00.009-05:00

We had a wonderful Christmas, and I wanted to share a few photos that we took along the way.

Our tree (who would have guessed?)

The family

A couple of Marge's old snowmen

Anna making sticky buns, part of our Christmas morning breakfast

Fresh fruit salad

Our wonderful children. Such a blessing.

This year we only sent out about half as many Christmas cards as we have in the past, mostly to family. I've never been so late at getting them out, mailing them the Saturday before Christmas.

Tomorrow I'll be taking our Honda to the body shop, finally, to get a repair estimate from an accident last month. We've been driving it, but it needs a bit of front end work, including another hood. I'll let you know what they say.

For New Year's Eve, we'll be watching the last four Harry Potter movies. The plan is to start mid-afternoon, and they will probably take us pretty close to midnight. We watched the first one Sunday evening, to get a head start. I'll be working a full day, but we have often been let go an hour or so early the day before a holiday, so I hope that's the case tomorrow. For supper Marge will be making our delicious traditional pork & sauerkraut with mashed potatoes.

We pray that you all have a safe New Year's Eve.

Two Days Before Christmas

2008-12-23T18:11:00.012-05:00

Since Christmas is only two days away, how about a Christmas post? Other than the busyness, I think Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love the summer time, hot weather and all, but nothing really compares to Christmas.

I have a few Christmas albums which are my favorites, in addition to several songs. I'd love to hear what your favorite albums and/or songs are, if you feel so inclined. These aren't in any particular order:

Christmas with Yolanda Adams
Savior - Sovereign Grace Ministries
Majesty & Wonder - Phil Keaggy with the London Festival Orchestra
Christmas Spirit - Donna Summer
The Court of a King - The Crossing

Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
In the First Light
Angels We Have Heard on High
What Child is This
Christmas Spirit - on Donna Summer's Christmas Spirit
Jesus Ahatonnia (The Huron Carol) - on Bruce Cockburn's Christmas
Hope Has Come - on Sovereign Grace Ministries' Savior

Tomorrow night is our church's Christmas Eve service. I'll be running the monitor board, so I need to get there around 5:00 to get things ready for the band. A couple of the children might go with me, so I'll have some help on the stage. We generally get off work an hour or so early on the day before a holiday, so I'm hoping I'll be able to eat an early supper before heading out.

All of our gift buying is finished, unless I decide to get something last minute, which I've been known to do. We got a "family gift" this year, so there won't be much under the tree, at least not much from Marge & me. With Emily, Anna, & Wesley working, they have their own money to spend on gifts for each other. It's such a joy seeing their generosity.

I hope each of you have a wonderful Christmas.

Taking Over the Family Blog

2008-12-19T18:26:00.007-05:00

Effective with this post, I will be taking over this blog. Since Marge and each of the children have their own blogs, I figured it'd be easier to just take this one over, rather than start a new one. A decision which only time will tell if it was a wise one or not.

The plan is to keep this as our family blog, with my occasional (well, maybe more than occasional) personal post of happenings & perspectives on, well, whatever. I can't say how often I'll be posting, but there is always plenty going on with our family.

Hopefully I won't drone on too often about economics, local politics, my current project at work, or the usually wonderful weather we have here in Charlotte.

Thanks for dropping by, and I look forward to keeping you all posted on the 7 Sweigarts.

New blog

2008-10-27T20:18:00.003-04:00

I just launched another new blog today. It's more of a personal blog for me. If you want to visit, click here. It's still somewhat under construction. I haven't added all my widgets and pages and stuff yet. I'm not sure how much longer I'll keep up this family blog. Since all the kids have their own blogs and Steve and I and the three oldest kids have Facebook, there's not much to put on here anymore. We'll see.

More fall color in our yard

2008-10-22T20:07:00.012-04:00

Oh, and speaking of our yard - Ben made an obstacle course for his bike in the yard, and we made a video of him riding through it. If you want to see it, he has posted it on his blog. Click here to watch it.

Grill master

2008-10-16T19:19:00.005-04:00

Steve bought this nice gas grill for us back on Memorial Day and we finally got it set up and started using it three or four weeks ago. I love it! We hardly ever used to grill because it took so long to heat up the charcoal and forever to cook anything. Now we can just turn it on and start grilling, so we're using it a lot. Some of our friends have nothing but disdain for gas grills, but I honestly can't taste any difference between charcoal and gas. Here's Steve cooking our supper a couple of hours ago - teriyaki chicken kabobs. Yum!