Travel, Meeting and Mini Series

Saturday I drove Sandy and Michelle to Kansas City to catch a flight to Milwaukee. They made it safe and are having a great time with Cara Grace and the rest of the family. On the way back from KC I stopped at 3 book stores, (Half Price Books, Lifeway Christian, and Borders) and can you believe it, I didn't buy anything! I even have a gift certificate from Christmas for Borders. Ate at Texas Roadhouse and then came on home. I am babysitting Michelle's 2 dogs, so I have a houseful of Schnauzers. The 4 of them are sure keeping me on my toes. On Sunday after church, (I had 14 people in Sunday School - boy that was fun!) I went to the quarterly AHSGR (American Historical Society of Germans from Russia) meeting. It was the folklore meeting and ethnic foods. I ate too much good German food. One lady talked about and showed some old aprons. It brought back a lot of childhood memories of my grandmothers and mother wearing aprons and what all they did while wearing them, like cooking! It was a good meeting. Then Nich and I watched the miniseries, "The Last Templar," on NBC. It concluded tonight. I had read the book and enjoyed it, so was curious to see how they treated the sensitive material. It followed the book very closely and unlike most Hollywood productions, it actually portrayed Christianity and faith in a good light.

Cara Grace Jansen

Cara was born on Monday the 12th at 8:01am. She was 7lbs 12 oz 19in long. She came home today and we saw her on Sandy's computer tonight. She has a program called Skype and so do Michael and Stacey. It is a way to talk and see over the internet. She is sure beautiful, but she just wanted to sleep. She is our third grandchild and we are so proud!

Another busy weekend

Weekends around our house are always busy it seems. No late sleepers here. Yesterday Sandy had a Stampin' Up Demonstrators Meeting at 9am and I had a conference at the same time. One of her fellow demonstrators picked her up and she later met up with Michelle for haircuts and shopping. My conference was with a group called Americans for Prosperity.

It is a grassroots organization dedicated to free markets, limited government and lower taxes. There were a lot of speakers there and about 300 attendees. The keynote speaker was Jonah Goldberg, who I happen to be reading his book, Liberal Fascism.

I am only about 1/2 way through it, but it was really great to listen to the author talk about the book. There were other state and national Congressmen and state legislators there. Many of them spoke. It was a really good conference and because I was one of the first 100 to register, I got a nice leather portfolio. Today after church, Sandy and I went to Golden Corral for lunch and then to Michael's for Sandy to shop for craft stuff and finally to our home away from home Wal-Mart. I got to watch a little football last night and this afternoon also. Sandy had a card class for her Stampin' Up on Friday night and had like 10 people show up to make cards she designed. So all in all, another lazy weekend for us!

Name of Blog Explanation

I thought I would explain today the reason for the name of my Blog. My wife Sandy and I have over 4000 books. Most of them mine of course, but not all. She actually reads more books than I do, but I also read a lot of internet news sites and commentary. She has joked that we have the Benton City Library in our house, because we live in such a small town, we don't actually have a library. I like to read Science Fiction, International Geo Political Thrillers, Christian Non Fiction and Fiction, History and Current Events. I also have a lot of reference books and Classical and recent Literature. So you can see, my interests are pretty varied. The EagleMan part has to do with where I graduated from High School. I graduated from Bishop Carroll High School in Wichita, KS. Our mascot was the Golden Eagle. Then, after college at Wichita State University, I entered the US Air Force and spent 20 years and then "retired." The AF symbol includes an eagle. Also, since I am a patriot and love this country, the symbol of America is a Bald Eagle. So eagle runs deep in me and it is "my" mascot. Finally there is a Bible verse from Isaiah, Isaiah 40:31 - "but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on wings like eagles; they will not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." So that should give you an explanation as to why books and eagles are important to me. However, that being said, there are persons that are even more important to me. God is #1 in my life. Following him are: My wife Sandy, our children; Lenore and Daniel, Nick, Eric and Heather, Michael and Stacey and Michelle; our grandchildren, Isobel (Izzy) and Isaac, with a new granddaughter to be born on January 12th (C-section); My Mom Billie and Sandy's folks Dale and Mildred Crooks in Rockville IN; our siblings and their families, My sisters Rhonda, Linda (and Corby) and Marilyn (and Mark) and my brother Mike (and Diana), Sandy's brothers Dennis (and Linda) and Darrell (and Judy). We also have many friends and fellow church members. I am hoping this year to spend more time with relatives and friends. My main resolutions though are to have a daily quiet time to be with God, finish losing the rest of the weight I started on last year and get organized. Not too tall of an order huh! I am hoping that recording some of these things in this blog will help keep me honest. So you all can help me out this year by encouraging me to stay on the wagon. Thanks,

First Post - Purpose of Blog

It has taken me a while to make my first post, but here goes.

My sister Linda and my daughter Lenore both have blogs, so I thought I would try it also. It has taken me some time to get started, first because I had a hard time coming up with a clever name, (not sure I succeeded there), and second, I wanted to be able to devote some time to it, so I could do it well. I also struggled for a purpose, which I am proposing to be a kind of online scrapbook of the lives of my family. Then, any of my extended family or friends who were interested, could see what's up throughout the year and not have to wait for the annual Christmas letter. My goal, or resolution if you wish, is to post something every day or two about the lives of my extended family. So if you are family or friends, welcome to my world!