The Beauty of the Unchanging God in Every Change

 Just before the winter winds strip signs of life from flowers and trees, autumn marks the coming barren season with a burst of colors. Seasons change in a cycle. Winds come and go. In every change, God remains the same.

 Who tells each leaf its color? Who knows where each leaf will fall? Who tells the winds to blow this way or that? In every change, God remains the same.

 In every season, in every angle of the sun, all creation sings the praise of our beautiful Creator. He created all things and conducts the symphony of creation's song to His praise. The colors, the breeze, the sun and the clouds, and in every changing season, somethings stirs in my heart to find joy in the beauty of it all. In every change, God remains the same.

Wendel Farms

A scenic drive just across the Ohio state line into Indiana will reveal a gem of a place in Wendel Farms. Wendel is great place to take children for fun and education. 

Wendel Farms has a fun petting farm with goats, alpacas, llamas, sheep, pigs, and many, many more! Children (and those young at heart!) may pet as well as feed the animals, who are friendly animals used to human contact.

Entrance into the farm for a family is cheaper than the much larger farms, but those who organized the family section of the farm put all the fun you would find anywhere else in a unique and educational farm.

My boys went through the farm collecting farm items while learning about agriculture which they took to a "farmer's market" for a candy prize.

My boys loved the tricycle track, corn hole, straw maze, and corn maze.

The farm also has a pony ride in this beautiful setting.

The staff is very friendly and knowledgeable. They love children and were very enthusiastic about agricultural education.

The farm has a nice little shop where you can purchase seasonal crops, clothes, toys, and decorations. I found the shop very affordable.

Last, but certainly not least, is the pumpkin farm! Wendel Farms has a fun hay ride to their pumpkin farm where they have lots of pumpkins of different sizes.

Black Walnut Festival in Camden, Ohio

I recently brought my family less than a half hour north of Hamilton to the small town of Camden, Ohio, to enjoy their annual Black Walnut Festival.
Nowadays, most small town festivals are rows of politicians and gutter replacement salesmen. Not the Black Walnut Festival!

Camden is a charming town with a nice downtown that is easily walked. The festival has booths of local vendors and artisans. I enjoyed speaking with local beekeepers about local honey, maple syrup farmers about local syrup, and local food vendors!






The Black Walnut Festival also boasts a sizable car show through their main strip.

There was even a local business selling s'more pops (s'more on a stick!), which you see Levi enjoying!

My family and I enjoyed the Black Walnut Festival in Camden, Ohio. We recommend that your family attend next year!

A Pastoral Scene

The fields are mowed and the hay is rolled, saving the sun's yield for the winter's cruelty. 

The sun smiles upon resting fields; the summer breeze welcomes the evening shade. 

May the rains bring the harvest, as Autumn winds whisper in. But now, now we rest.

Brunswick, Missouri

Last year, the saints at Brunswick Baptist Church in Brunswick, Missouri, invited me to preach the Word of God in their gathering. What a joy it was to see a town and people that otherwise I would not have met this side of eternity.

Brunswick is a charming town in north central Missouri. Surrounded by vast farms, Brunswick has many of the attractive features you'd expect in a small community: a soda fountain, some shoppes, and a giant pecan.

Okay, so Brunswick's pecan isn't "real," but the townsfolk boast that Brunswick is the "Pecan Capital of the World." It was in Brunswick that I discovered my enjoyment of pecans.

Walking the streets is a peaceful enjoyment and the people are warm to say hello and wave as you pass by.

Brunswick has a bit of history. The trial of tears of the Potawatomi tribe had an encampment here.

Also, the Corps of Discover with Lewis and Clark camped here by the Grand River in modern Brunswick.

The railroad in Brunswick is still vitally important to this agricultural community.

The highrises in Brunswick are grain elevators.

The fields of Brunswick are a peaceful ocean of land, leaving the vastness of the sky above and incredible distance to the trees a graceful boundary to the sky. Finding myself in the large farms of Brunswick gives peace to the mind wrapped in my feldeinsamkeit.

The road leaving Brunswick cannot remove the stamp upon my heart of the joys and kind memories I delight in to this day.

Carl Casper Auto Show

Last Friday, I took the family to the Carl Casper Auto Show at the Kentucky Fair and Expo Center in Louisville, Kentucky. I know very little about cars, but I had a friend who is a mechanic to explain some things. Plus, I heard the A-Team van was there.

And here it is! I love it when a plan comes together. The A-Team was a cool TV show, despite the incredibly bad aim the team was with guns. I pity the fool who doesn't like the A-Team van.

I do not think I have ever watched a full episode of "The Dukes of Hazzard." I think the premise of the show is a couple of good ole boys with good intentions racked up a long list of felony arrest warrants for fleeing and evading the police. I am certain that General Lee, a devout Christian man, hardly approves.

This paddy wagon makes good timing from the crime scene to the jail.

The original Batmobile! Amazing technicolor, corny jokes from Adam West, and  onomatopoeic words exploding on the screen during fight scenes made this classic TV show a hit.

Let's face it, though. Michael Keaton is the real Batman, and this is the real Batmobile. I don't know how possible it is to control a car with a jet engine in the rear, but I wouldn't turn down a test drive!

Detailing the history of rum-running cars like this one is an interesting part of American history. Perhaps the paddy wagon above could outrun this bootlegger?

I don't really know what all I am looking at, but injecting nitrous oxide (NOS) into the intake manifold apparently is so dangerous, straps are placed around the engine to keep it together if it explodes. This doesn't sound wise to me.

K.I.T.T. is a talking car that drives itself. If I had a talking car, I'm sure it would be moody.

This Pontiac has swivel chairs in the front that turn around to face the curved bench seat in the back. This is a swell car to have for family picnics.

The original Bigfoot. My brother and I rode this once when we were little down a straight-a-way near the old Louisville Motor Speedway. Bigfoot used to crush cars. Now he spends his retirement on display at car shows.

Ecto-1! Well, okay, it's not the original. But still, this brings back childhood memories of sticking vacuum hoses through my backpack to capture ghosts around the house!

An example of what primitive man in the 1960's thought we would be driving today ("the future").

This 1948 Ford has a Chevy engine and claims to have once been owned by Elvis Presley. The farm truck in the back is pink. Interesting...

Here is something I do not understand. Apparently, some take old cars (I have been told "G Bodies") then put hydraulics on it and use a remote control to jump the car around. The entertainment of this is lost on me.

Best I can explain the event is something like bull-riding a very athletic bull, except the bull-rider has a leash on the bull off to the side instead of sitting in the saddle.