Howdy folks!  Hold it, if you want to hear some good singing, come to SMBI this weekend!  Friday night at 7:00 is THE Night of Music (which means that if you don't know anybody, you will feel lost, but the chances of you knowing absolutely nobody are...slim.)  Saturday night, By the Way is giving a program at Shippensburg Christian Fellowship at 7:00.  Sunday morning, Emerald Chorale is singing at SMBI.  (this chorale went to Ireland last June, directed by Urie Sharp...no, I wasn't along, but I know a lot of the people that were.) 

  So...just an encouragement to come if you want!  Blessings, Peter

 Oh, wow, the memories!  If you remember last summer, Kevin, Lee, Duane, and I recorded out in IN.  Twas a good experience...fun, tiring, and enriching. 

Tonight...I got some boxes! 

Yep, they finally came (actually, they came to Lee's place, and Gina picked them up from his area for me...Thanks!) 

  So if anybody wants one, let me know by email, call, or, if you must, leave a message (though I prefer other ways.)  Please don't buy one to be polite, but if you want some, I'll be glad to take your money!  They are $13...$15 if I need to mail them to ya. 

  Blessings to you all!  Peter

OK, OK, so it's almost Christmas and y'all (corrected spelling) haven't heard from me in 1/2 of forever...but there's a reason for that--I really haven't felt the urge to update.  I've been doing "other things."  Seriously...life is a struggle, and put that, work, dating, and everything together, you get...um...what do you get--no updates, for one! 

  I was out in OR for a week at Thanksgiving.  I may post a picture if I feel like it!  Anyway, it was a good week...nice to be actually with her...like, in the same time zone!    That girl continues to bless me...and she says I bless her too, but often it feels like a grossly one-way street! 

  Getting ready for Chrismas?  It's gonna be a crazy weekend!  My whole family will be around , food,  Grandma and Grandpa's 60th anniversary celebration, food, Christmas, my B-day, extended family, food, etc!  Speaking of food, my Grandma Byler's carmel candy recipe is....uh-huh!  I'm watching the screen saver pictures on Mom and Dad's computer as I type this...anybody heard of pig-trough sundaes?  It's schweet.  We do it at family reunions.  You make a trough out of, say, 1x4s, probably 8 or 10 feet long.  Line it with tin foil, load it up with several gallons of ice cream, toppings, cherries, etc., and then have as many people as can crowd around the thing crowd around the thing and spoon it out!  Great fun and more entertaining than serving it up in little dishes! 

  I have been reminded different times this year of how incredible God's gift to man really is.  That God would actually come down to earth and die for us.  Obviously, He knew it would work, but that He was willing to do it.  Here's some lyrics from Selah-Rose of Bethlehem...

"Mystery...how He came to be a man, but greater still...that His death was in His plan.  God predestined that His Son would die, and He still created man!  Oh, what love is this, that His death was in His plan?"

...and then I get cross because somebody cuts me off in the passing lane.  Hmmm....  Perspective? 

OK, here's a picture..and I know it's crooked, which is kinda one of my pet peeves, but that's OK...this time! 

see ya later, Peter

Hmmm....I really haven't had a strong urge to update.  But I don't think I'll apologize for that!  Life continues to be full.  Full of good things, full of questions, full of struggle, but I'm thankful that in the midst of all that, God is the same and He is faithful.

Right now I'm in DE...yep, working out of state, though not b/c I lost my job in VA, just that my old boss, Don Geiser, fell off the scissor lift and hurt his back, so I'm in here for a couple weeks helping out with a 60x80 shop.  Yeah, it's gonna be a sweet shop!  18' high, metal ceiling in the whole thing, 26x16 overhead door.  Anyway, we set trusses yesterday--was pretty windy, broke a truss, and exciting stuff like that, but we were safe, thank the Lord, and the truss got fixed, and they haven't blown over in this gale (at least not that I've heard!)  Hoping to put on roof Thurs., but with 33' sheets of metal, we can't have too much wind that day...so we'll wait and see and pray. 

And in a couple weeks I hope to fly out west (yes, again).   No, dating is not all stars and full-moon nights and all that stuff, but it is good. 

So, yeah.  Keep fighting the fight of faith...in Christ!  Peter

 Hey there all ya'll,

  Yes, I'm home...got there about 11 last night.  And it feels weird, and like I just got back from Bible School or something.  But it was a good honeymoon trip...I highly recommend them!    OK, basically here was the deal:  No, I'm not married, and neither is Brianna!  See, there were 3 Amish couples from WI, 2 of which were on a honeymoon trip (married a month or so ago) and they came out west on the train and wanted someone to drive them around to see the redwoods, etc.  So Brianna, Adrienne and I did that last week!  It was crazy, fun, and funny, but also good, challenging, and growing.  We didn't know these people from Adam, so that was kinda scary and stuff, but they were 3 fun couples and it was cool to get comfortable and enjoy the trip once everyone got over the awkward stage! 

  We got to see Crater Lake, some of the redwoods (which, by the way, are really cool!) and took a jet boat ride up the Rogue river.  Quite the trip and lots of good memories!  And lots of good opportunities for photo shoots!    Because of their convictions on pictures, we didn't get any good ones of them posing for shots, but it seems it wasn't a huge deal if they were in the background, so anyway, here are a couple (no pun intended) pictures of the trip and stuff. 

This was the jet boat we rode in...I think I was in the wettest spot on the boat the back row on the right!  It was fun though.  Those are our Amish comrades sitting on the boat. 

This picture is annoying because it's just a fuzz blurry, but I think I'll keep it because of the context!  I like big trees and nice people to share them with!

And here's the 3 of us at Crater lake.  Absolutely beautiful scenery! 

Well, have a great day!  Until next time...Peter