This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog.
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So, I decided to avoid the stress of Aaron's court date. It wasn't necessary for me to be there, so I let Mom and Dad go and take care of it. Ordinarily, I'd have gone to provide moral support, but even though we agree with and support Aaron's decision that he no longer wishes to live with us, some of the local vultures that love to heckle us are likely to be there, and I cannot handle that.
So, I stayed home and ended up watching the premiere of Star Trek: Picard. I was pretty impressed with it. I've never considered myself a Trekkie, but I have always been a fan of Captain Picard. I ended up doing a brief reaction video and posting it on YouTube. I may even do a proper review video eventually, since this is both a fresh new show and very nostalgic at the same time.
After all that, I decided to whack off my hair and proceeded to shave my head. I wasn't quite finished with my haircut when Mom and Dad returned. They were planning on going back out for lunch, so I asked if I could tag along. We ended up going to JP's and getting the cod platter. Delicious as always!
After that we went home and I went back to work on my usual stuff, writing and designing graphics and the like. Mitchell messaged me and asked if I could help him out with some stuff when he got off work and of course I said yes.
First we went to the hardware store, where he bought a toilet and a drain auger and then we went back to his place. I let his puppy out for a little bit and cleaned some stuff up for him before carrying the old toilet out.
After we were done at the house, we rode over to Capraro's in Hopedale. I'd been there for a birthday party quite a few years ago, but never since. Mitchell bought me a sandwich for helping him out and we hung out for a bit, talking to the bartender and another customer.
After this, we went to Scio to fill up on gas. It was here that Mom tried to call us. I was a little puzzled, because Mom knows that service is spotty in this area and we'd only been gone for a grand total of 3 hours. I am usually pretty easy to get in contact with, but my phone has been out of minutes lately as I have not had steady work in a few months. So, I was a little worried when we got home, what had happened that was so bad that Mom had to call us?
It turns out that my grandma had passed away. Mom's mother, just a couple weeks after losing her dad. I wasn't super close with them, but it's devastating all the same, and hard to process that they're really gone. If anybody's reading this, please say a prayer for Mom, as I know she's taking this pretty hard.
So, that was the 23rd day of 2020.
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.
A rendition of Captain Picard's Inner Light Theme from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
This was originally published as part of "The Life of Zack" series on "I Am Medley.
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I used to think that getting a job in fast food would be stupid, but at some point I realized that the experience could be good for something - for example, I had an idea for a novel about a manager of a fast food restaurant, and working in fast food would give me first hand experience to write about.
So, in early 2016 I started putting applications in at various fast food establishments in my area and one of them called me back! A couple days after my interview, the manager called me and let me know that I could come in for orientation later that week. I couldn't find my social security card, so we had to reschedule once. After watching all the training videos and receiving my uniform and copy of the company policy book, I was informed that I would be starting in a week.
I could hardly wait!
I thought it would be really cool to work in a kitchen and cook rather than dealing with customers all day every day, like I did at my gas station job. So, it was very cool at first to be back in the kitchen flipping burgers. My responsibilities included salting the meat, making sure I cooked fresh meat regularly, chopping the old and dry meat for chili, frying chicken in the deep fryer and grilling chicken on the grill.
I also had to sweep and scrub the parking lot, scrub the floors in the kitchen, put away deliveries when they came, take out the trash, drain the fryers and put in fresh oil; among other things...
But first, as soon as I was done training to do all of that, I was stuck on floor scrubbing duty. Two or three shifts a week, where I'd come in and scrub the floor for hours, give the main grill guy a half hour break and take the trash out. It was awful! Until I learned to bring headphones and listen to music while I worked, and then it became a lot more enjoyable.
Eventually, the crew was spread thin enough that I got my chance to be a proper grill guy and I graduated to cooking for 20 to 30 hours a week. I wasn't allowed to listen to music while cooking, so I took up humming and singing, much to the annoyance of some of my more, uh, cranky coworkers.
I have this thing - everywhere I work, I want to learn everything that I possibly can. Because knowledge is power and knowledge can also mean more hours. No one just gives full-time hours anymore, you usually have to prove yourself, starting with about 6 hours a week until they'll give you 32 to 40.
So, I insisted that I be taught every job in the restaurant. No one took me too seriously, but bit by bit, I learned the different positions in the kitchen and persuaded the manager to give me some hours training on the register. Once I got my register training, I went back to flipping burgers and the occasional day of floor scrubbing.
It all came together one day when one of the cashiers walked out... I got to work an extra shift that day. Overnight, I went from around 24 hours a week to around 40 every week. I was pretty pleased with my foresight.
Speaking of foresight, I was always preparing for things that no one else was. I remember one time the manager started yelling at me, and I snapped out of whatever reverie I was in and found that I had cooked way too many french fries! Moments later, a horde of hungry customers descended on us and bought every last fry. That wasn't the only time that happened, but it sure was the funniest.
Of course, there were a few times when I just screwed up and cooked too much, but there were plenty of times when I saved the day by preparing for the crowds before they appeared.
I worked for about a year as a grill guy, another year as a cashier (which includes all kinds of other responsibilities, depending on which register you're on: it could be scrubbing the tables and chairs down or washing dishes and baking potatoes) and another half a year doing a little bit of everything. In the end, I made a lot of new friends, learned a lot for my book and finally got fed up with the whole experience and call it quits (though in defense of fast food jobs, it was mainly an interpersonal conflict that caused me to quit and go back to working midnights at the gas station).
I have countless little anecdotes from my time in fast food, and they'll probably get blogs of their own in the future and be referenced through out many of my future works.
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day. An underrated track from Pink Floyd that I thoroughly enjoy. I remember listening to it on breaks at work.
This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog.
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Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I stayed busy as usual, with my usual projects. I wanted to do something to commemorate MLK, so I created the below #FactOfTheDay graphic for my Fact of the Day on Facebook and Twitter.
That is one of my favorite MLK quotes. He has always been a hero of mine.
I feel like a lot of people talk the talk, but he really walked the walked as well. (See what I did there? I thought it was pretty clever.)
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.
This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog.
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Life is just flying past, and sometimes the days just blend together; but one thing that stands out and brightens my day is a good sermon or Bible study and good fellowship.
Tonight, we went to church and Bro. Guy preached a great sermon about protecting your field.
Basically, in short: We all have an area in life, a field if you will, that is our responsibility. In the old days, people would defend their fields with everything they had.
We need to pray for and be the best influence we can be in our "field," our jobs, schools, etc. and the people in them. We need to be the best we can be, praying and working to defend our fields.
It was a powerful sermon and I can't do it justice here.
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.
This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog.
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After WinterJam last night, we rushed home so I could get sleep before we went to our church's Men's Prayer Breakfast. I was to give the Bible Study/Message at the breakfast.
I just started going to this church consistently a few months ago after I quit my job, before that I had only visited a few times. I had been to one or two of these breakfasts over the past few months and had been asked to give the message this month. The men's breakfast is held at Carrollton Ponderosa once a month.
I was very excited about giving the message!
But when we woke up this morning, the weather was terrible! We were worried that we wouldn't be able to make it. We did make it though! Despite the snow and the ice we made it to Ponderosa. Only a handful of people made it, but it was good. (I always enjoy eating at Ponderosa too!)
Anyway, I spoke on this world not being our home and how a proper focus on the world to come makes us more compassionate and loving people in the here and now.
I based the whole thing on Hebrews 13:14 and supported it with several other verses.
I was honored to get the opportunity to speak and look forward to doing so again.
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.
This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog.
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One of the highlights of my year is always attending WinterJam. WinterJam is a concert that tours the states with roughly ten different Christian musicians. The lineup is different every year with the exception of Newsong, who founded the tour. In my area, they perform in the same venues every year. I've attended in both Pittsburgh and Cleveland, but Pittsburgh is my favorite.
Selfie at PPG Paints Arena
I thought I would be in Australia by this time, so WinterJam this year was kind of an afterthought, but it is a silver lining to still being in Ohio. We went to Pittsburgh this year, the PPG Paints Arena.
The artists included Andy Mineo, Riley Clemmons and Crowder. Newsong played a shorter set this year because several members of the group were ill.
The arena was so crowded we had to sit in the upper levels this time. This was the furthest away we'd ever sat, and I felt a little wobbly at that altitude, but it was awesome. You could feel the sound reverberating through the building.
One of the highlights when Crowder headlines the tour is always how all the musicians on the tour come out on stage and perform the final hoedown with him. This year he also performed a few songs with Riley Clemmons.
As you can see, I snapped a few pictures with my cell phone, but the venue doesn't allow larger cameras, so I didn't chance taking the Canon PowerShot in. (Though I seem to remember taking it in there once before without an issue.)
I had a blast and though I hope to be in Australia by this time next year, I will look forward to attending another WinterJam in future!
Pittsburgh skyline from the parking lot
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.
This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog.
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Today was much the same as yesterday, I spent a lot of time working on things I was behind on - and looking forward to future projects I'm working on. The highlight of my day is when my brother Mitchell stopped by and asked me to give him a haircut.
Mitchell often grows his hair down to his shoulders, but he decided today that he wanted to try it short for awhile. He messaged me before he got off work to make sure I was home and then came down for a haircut.
Before
Mitchell is always on the move... He's a ball of energy, and refuses to sit still. It took everything in him to sit long enough to let me whack the hair off. I managed to snap some before and after pictures though!
After
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.
This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog.
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Basically, I spent most of the day writing blogs that I was behind on. I also recorded several videos that I'd been planning to upload earlier in the month.
I uploaded a video I had previously recorded about the backyard farm I used to have, and then recorded new videos about my time at the Cadiz Food Pantry, my dogs I had growing up and how my macaw cusses me out.
Eventually, I'll share a post with an overview of everything I am working on and it will become clear where I spend all my time.
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.
This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog.
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I decided to go with Mom and Dad when they visited Aaron this evening, because he had recently told us that he wanted to move on and live with someone else. For those of you who don't know, Aaron is my youngest brother, adopted, has been living with us since he was 3 days old and is afflicted with various mental and behavioral issues that are to be expected when one is introduced to crack cocaine and alcohol before birth.
He's 14 now. Gonna be 15 in May. He's as big as I am and has been displaying worse and worse behaviors as each year passes. About a year ago, I had to press charges against him, and he's been in and out of juvie and eventually landed in a residential treatment facility. As I said, recently he decided to he really just doesn't want to live with us anymore, and hopes that he'll land in a home in which he can live in town with other kids.
At this point, I have to say that I'm just glad this could be over. I've been worried about him hurting my Mom when I'm away at work or something, so this is something of a relief, though it is also what was afraid was going to happen.
So, I decided to go and visit with him, since I have no idea how many more times I'll be able to see him.
He brought a pack of cards and he and Dad taught me how to play Blackjack. I'd never played before, it's pretty fun and not complicated at all. So we had a fun visit.
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.
This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog.
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Today, we confronted a problem we've been having for awhile.
You see, we've had some difficulties with our postal service since we moved into this house, just over nineteen years ago. Over time, we've had complaints from the mail carriers about where our mailbox is, demands to be allowed to turn around in our driveway because it is the end of their route, they've deliberately smashed packages, refused to deliver our mail, carved ruts in our driveway and ditch, and may well have hit our cat.
So, we've been in a bit of a situation lately. A couple of days ago, the postmaster stopped by to let us know that once again, there was not enough room in our driveway to turn around. (We'd moved one of our vans that wasn't running into a place they found inconvenient and they implied that they would not deliver our mail until it was moved. We'd moved it, but they still weren't delivering our mail.)
Dad was at work and he suddenly felt like he should call the post office and see what was up. (If you roll with us Medley's for long enough, you'll find that as unlikely as it might seem, God speaks to us sometimes - this was one of those cases.) Dad called the post office and found that they'd dispatched two inspectors from the Cleveland office to check out what was wrong with our driveway. Clearly, our friendly local postal people didn't want us to know they were coming and be able to talk to them about our problems, but since Dad had called when he did, we were able to.
I went down to talk to them and then Dad called back and wanted to speak with them. We explained the ongoing issues and that we just want our mail to be delivered. They didn't see why our mail was "undeliverable" and assured us that they would be instructing everyone to deliver our mail and that everyone would be receiving a copy of their report.
So, that was what happened today.
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.
This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog.
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The main thing I remember from today, amid the haze of everything that is going on, is the evening sermon at church. The preacher that night read the story of the Elijah and the prophets of Baal.
"How long halt ye between two opinions?" was the question Elijah asked the people of Israel and the preacher asked the congregation that night.
You cannot serve God and the Devil, you cannot live one way all week and live differently only on a Sunday.
I was very familiar with these passages of scripture because I had memorized them some years ago and entered in a Bible memorization contest. But something new jumped out at me tonight.
The prophets of Baal thought they had to do something crazy to get their god's attention (they were cutting themselves, jumped up and down and screamed according to the scriptures) and to be loved and acknowledged by him - but the prophet of the One True God knew that he only had to speak to Him.
Out of all the different lessons in that story, that one jumped out at me, because I see parallels between that and things I see every day, and I'd never really given it any thought before.
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.
This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog.
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Today was interesting. I was going to sleep in and work on my writing while Mom went to her ladies breakfast with the church... But Mom woke me up: the car's power steering fluid had leaked out and it was too difficult to steer. I rode with her to the store and bought some more and put it in for her.
She let me get something to eat with her card, since now she was running late and I had to ride with her. I chose a package of Nutter Butter cookies because the store's selection was lacking any good choices. I neglected to get a drink though, which I later regretted.
I sat in the parking lot while Mom attended her breakfast. I worked on writing some blogs. I read some of my writing to Mom on our way home and we stopped and got something for me to drink.
When we got home, I fixed lunch and signed into my YouTube account on the Xbox so we can watch YouTube on the TV. Aaron had messed that up so that it didn't work either. Dad showed Mom & I the Jim Bruer comedy special "Let's Clear the Air." Hilarious!
Then Mom and I went to visit Aaron.
Later when we got home, we binge watched a cop show on Amazon Prime. We were all pretty burnt out from a roller coaster week.
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.
This was originally published as part of "The Life of Zack" series on "I Am Medley.
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There was a time when my family had a little backyard farm. It started after Mom had recovered from her second bout with cancer, my little brother decided that we should start growing our own food. He bought a couple of laying hens, and that's how we got started. We ended up getting a lot more birds: chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks and guineas. Then we got some goats, a sheep, a couple cows and a few pigs. For a little while, we were producing so many eggs we were able to sell some for a few extra dollars. My brother started showing birds in poultry shows and that was a whole other adventure. I spent my time at home taking care of the animals while my family traveled around for the poultry shows. I have a lot of crazy memories from that time: going out in the pouring rain to take care of the animals, hunting for runaway birds late into the night; I even remember one time I was so sick I could barely stand, but I managed to get all the animals taken care of. The birds could be a bit of a handful, but they were nothing compared to the goats. The goats were a riot, and not always a good one. The first few goats we acquired were supposed to be good milk goats, but it turns out we had been duped and they were sick. Their milk tasted awful and they didn't produce very much at all, in addition to respiratory problems. We eventually found a proper milk goat. She was a pretty good goat, as far as that goes, but I still didn't enjoy having to go out and milk her at the crack of dawn. We had good goat milk for awhile. But then, she "mysteriously" turned up dead. The cows were also ill-fated. We only got one or two to the butcher, the others just dropped dead. Once we started keeping farm animals, they would turn up dead some mornings when we went out to care for them. We were taking good care of them, making sure they were receiving proper nutrition and everything. We suspected they were being killed by family members and local people that didn't like us. Let's put it this way, when we got a gun and people found out about it, the animals didn't die as often. Then, there was an increase of calls to the Humane Society in reference to our animals. All kinds of accusations that they were not properly cared for, which the Humane Society investigated and determined were untrue. The pigs did alright, no mysterious deaths - maybe people were afraid of them? Pigs can be scary! We bought piglets in pairs, we never gave them proper names because we planned on having them butchered, so we would call them "Sausage" and "Bacon," or "Jimmy" and "Dean." The thing is, the first four pigs were friendly and not hard to care for, but the last two were savage. They ate random chickens that wandered into their pen and would stare menacingly at any living thing in visual range. I certainly didn't want to fall in their pen. When they went to the butcher, I was so relieved. So, I've talked a little about all the animals, except for our pet sheep. Whereas we eventually sold off our remaining birds and goats, when my brother moved away, we kept the sheep - because she was a rescue and a pet. We love our Hannah Banana. So, I'm not really about that farming life, but I figure someday I'll have a few chickens in my backyard. Them fresh eggs and the roosters crowing in the morning, that's where it's at.
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.
This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog.
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Today is the day that we had been dreading all week. Grandpa Soos' viewing and funeral. I rode into town with Mitchell, who stopped at our house first.
I get terribly anxious at funerals, it's such an awkward time and then you feel bad for feeling bad because you're alive, reasonably healthy and not the one in the casket. Thankfully, our family is very kind and everyone understands about being anxious and most of us had to step outside a few times for some fresh air. I might have taken this a step further and hid in the children's playroom for a few minutes and then took a walk around the block to my old workplace. But I came back. There was one little dust up in which someone from Dad's side of the family came by to harass Mom, I mean you'd think people would have a little respect for the fact that Mom just lost her dad. But no, some people are simply so uncouth they cannot leave her alone. But in the end, the person left and Mom was alright. So, all in all it went alright. After we finished up at the cemetery, I suggested that my brothers join Mom, Dad and I, and we all go down to JP's for a bite to eat. I'd been too frazzled for breakfast this morning.
So we did, we all met up down at JP's and Dad bought two fish platters. We all stuffed our faces with fish and fresh french fries. After this Nathanael had plans, and Mitchell left too. Dad and I stopped in at the library to pick out a couple more movies. I messaged Mitchell to see if he wanted to come by and watch something while Mom and Dad went shopping in Canton. He had already made plans, so I worked on catching up on writing and planning my social media posts. I also solved the problem I've been having with the Xbox. My youngest brother messed it up while trying to modify a game and now there has been no Xbox Live connection for awhile. I'd got subscriptions to Hulu and Amazon for Christmas, but the only streaming app that would work was Netflix. I solved the problem by setting up a whole new Microsoft account and profile on the Xbox, because I couldn't remember any of our previous logins and Aaron had wiped them completely out. When Mom and Dad got home we watched some stuff on Amazon and then went to bed, they both have places to be in the morning. Me, I just want to get some more writing done.
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.
This was originally published as part of "The Life of Zack" series on "I Am Medley.
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Volunteering at the Cadiz Food Pantry was an important part of my life for quite a few years, until work and being an adult got in the way. It all started on the first Thursday of 2010, the 7th of January. My brothers, Nathanael, Mitchell & I went with Gary from our church and our Pastor to help unload the trucks that deliver food from the Mid Ohio Food Bank. It was my first time doing anything like that. At that time, the Food Pantry was run by sisters Betty and Edna. They were hard workers, and I later learned they had served in the Air Force during the Korean War. Betty liked to bark orders and Edna was a good listener. I miss them very much. During the time when I got busy with work and couldn't find the time to volunteer anymore, I got word that Betty and Edna's health was failing and they were moving to Texas to be closer to family. Later I learned that Betty had passed away. I made a lot of other friends during my years there: Mattie, Johann, Mary, Virginia and Gladys - just to name a few. Anyway, that very first day we helped unload trucks. We continued to help them unload trucks on the first Wednesday of the month for the next year or two. Later on, perhaps late 2012, (I didn't keep good notes back then) we began to help them on distribution days, Tuesdays and Fridays. Back in those days, we would arrive early before the pantry would open and we'd prepare boxes of food for the different families, according to the number of people in each family. Over time, I got involved in just about every aspect of the food pantry operation. I never learned the office paperwork part of things, but I helped sort, stock and inventory. I even would go to the garage outside town where the Mid Ohio Food Bank deliveries would come and help divide the food between our pantry and the others in the area. Volunteering was a very rewarding experience for me. I enjoyed all the time I spent with the Cadiz Food Pantry. In more recent years, I've popped in to help out a few times a year. It's a little different now. Under new management, the pantry has been updated so that people can shop for food they will use, so that nothing goes to waste. The main work that needs done now is unloading trucks, putting things on the shelves and helping people carry food to their vehicles, having eliminated the need to box food in advance. Someday I may be able to work some more volunteer work into my schedule and I look forward to it.
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.
This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog.
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I'd gotten behind in my writing projects, so I knew I had to catch up before things got out of hand.
My "Raised by Wolves" blog had been slated for the evening of the 7th, and I had it partially written, but I didn't actually finish it until today.
It's a long read, but it reveals some important pieces of my backstory. I really loved my dogs, I miss them very much and I've been planning a book about, and dedicated to, them.
Soon, I plan on digging out my old photo album of the dogs and adding some pics to the post. A post that long definitely needs some visuals. I have some absolutely stunning pics of Buddy, Lady and Bubba.
I have been unable so far to completely catch up on my YouTube videos, as I've spent most of my time writing and the lighting and acoustics around here are not exactly friendly.
I plan on catching up on the videos soon. I want to have an increasingly good hold on things with each passing week and for everything to be completely under control come the end of January, with blogs and videos published regularly and on time.
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.
This was originally published as part of "The Life of Zack" series on "I Am Medley.
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Today's post is very important. I am a Christian. I take my faith very seriously. My parents came from different religious backgrounds. They both wanted something more, but didn't know what it was. Not long before I was born, just a little over a year, they discovered a church that taught from the Bible differently than they'd ever heard before. They passed these teachings on to their children of course. I've always believed in God. I'd pray for the ability to see things like one of the prophets as a child. I didn't realize it at first, because it wasn't exactly how I expected, but I started having dreams and visions. As I got older, life got more difficult in a lot of different ways, and that's a different story - but I started to pray more, I was more interested in going to church and reading the Bible. Baptism, the Holy Ghost and Christian teachings were something we discussed a lot in our home. I remember listening to discussion over what the proper baptism is, how you know you're born again and related topics. Then one day I was reading and praying and I read the passage in Matthew, when Jesus said to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. I had a moment of realization that the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost was "Jesus." It was a real revelation. Mom and Dad were baptised in Jesus' name, by full immersion back in Texas before I was born - and now that I understood the scriptures myself, I wanted to be baptized as well. We hadn't been to church in awhile, in fact we were looking for a new church in late 2009. Our family had just been through a loss, significant upheaval and Mom was struggling through recovery from cancer. It was during that time that I asked God to help us, send us to a church, save our souls and get us through these struggles we were caught up in. A few days later Dad visited a church and then we started going there.
One night in November 2009, I asked to baptized. When I decided to be baptized, two of my younger brothers decided to be baptized too. Acts 2:38 says that if you repent and are baptized in the name of Jesus, you will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost - God's spirit to lead and guide you through life. Various other scriptures indicate that when you are filled with the Holy Ghost you will speak in other tongues, languages you don't understand. I was filled with the Holy Ghost on March 7th 2010, with the evidence of speaking tongues. Being a Christian is certainly not always a walk in the park, but it is the most rewarding part of my life - it is my life - I cannot imagine going through this world without my faith. My faith and God's Spirit have guided me through some pretty incredible and terrible things. I just listen for the still, small voice and He helps me through. I wish everyone could know my God and understand my faith. Not everyone is ready to hear it yet, but I believe that someday they will understand. Thank you for reading, God bless. If you have any questions, comment below or message me on my Facebook. I currently attend a great church in Minerva, OH - Minerva Apostolic Church, I hope you can join us for a service sometime and if you need a Bible, I recommend the King James Version which is available, along with other translations, through BlueLetterBible.org - check it out!
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day. An old favorite of mine today, "Born Again" by Newsboys
This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog.
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The most notable thing to happen today was our Wednesday night church service. Dad ended up staying home because he was doing some wiring in the basement so we could hook up our dryer and finally do laundry at home again.
Mom and I went by ourselves. We already knew tonight's service would be different, as it would be downstairs in the fellowship area instead of upstairs in the sanctuary.
The pastor announced that our Wednesday night services in January would be held downstairs in preparation for a change we will be making in February. In February, we will begin holding our Wednesday night services in people's homes, in different areas, so everyone will get to know each other better and people who are not comfortable in a traditional church setting will come and hear the Word.
The pastor will be writing the Bible studies, so all the teachers/hosts will be teaching the same things. He asked us to choose a house to attend, so as to make sure the church is evenly divided between locations. He emphasized that while snacks may be served, fellowship and the Bible lesson will be the focus; however, come the fourth Wednesday of the month, we will all gather at the church for a meal and fellowship all together.
We then had our Bible study, with participation from the congregation. It was about miracles, particularly the "little" miracles that happen around us all the time.
Afterwards we talked to a few people and I asked the pastor (who is an electrician) an electrical question for Dad, who was almost ready to plug in the dryer. With the answer, he was able to finish the job and we are finally able to wash and dry our clothes at home again. When we got home we watched a movie and then headed to bed. I didn't want to be up as late as the night before, but somehow we managed to be up pretty late again.
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.
This was originally published as part of "The Life of Zack" series on "I Am Medley.
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A lot of people ask me about my homeschooling experience, so I figured I'd devote a post to a few thoughts about this. Short answer: I loved being homeschooled. Also, a distinction between our homeschooling and a lot of other homeschoolers: My parents chose my curriculum, made my lesson plans and filed the appropriate paperwork with the county to prove that I was being educated. The other method is just to do school at home, whatever the school is teaching you, it is done online. It's an important distinction. Part of the reason I was homeschooled was because my parents wanted to teach me their own way, and not leave it up to someone else. Mom selected the curriculum. We tried different things as far as lesson plans and structure from year to year. Early years were based around the teaching strategies of a curriculum called "Weaver;" we spent a couple years in a unit study based around the Little House on the Prairie and we bought a curriculum that was entirely on CD-ROMs when I was in high school. I enjoyed the fact that my brothers (who were homeschooled as well) and myself got learn at our own paces; I struggled with math and excelled in reading and writing, but my brothers were the complete opposite, so being homeschooled allowed us to spend more time on what we struggled with until we could get it right. One time I repeated a year in math while I moved ahead in my other subjects, because I was having a hard time with it. I spent a ridiculous amount of time reading, in school and in my spare time. Summer Reading programs at the local libraries were definitely a highlight for me growing up. The big question everyone always asks - "how did you get a chance to socialize?" The truth is, I socialized all the time. Kids on our block, kids at our church - and perhaps more importantly, I learned to interact with people older than myself - not just people my age. Here in Ohio, there are two ways to pass the grade and go forward to the next year: to take a standardized test or to have a certified teacher review samples of your work for the year and sign off on it. We always did the latter. When I graduated high school, there was a ceremony at the state homeschooling convention, with a number of other students (perhaps a hundred?). I'm not sure if they do anything like that anymore, but it was a great experience for me.
People ask me if I'll homeschool my kids and I always say, I'm definitely planning on it.
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.
This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog.
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I spent a lot of the day indoors working on writing and planning some things. Applying to jobs as well! I've got to start making money again.
Eventually, I decided to go outside and film some things for my YouTube. I'd been discouraged by the slow upload times for the past week, but I decided that I'd make it work and probably try to keep my videos closer to 3 minutes long. One of them was 6 minutes long, but the others were shorter.
I Talk a Little About My Life
Choco the Brown Dog
Spending the Night with an Angry OSTRICH!
I crossed alligator-infested waters!
My brother Mitchell stopped by and visited for a little while later that evening, after Mom and Dad came home. Then we watched "Alice in Wonderland," I'd seen it before, but Mom and Dad hadn't.
I got the videos uploading at the same time, which pretty much slowed our internet connection to a stand-still.
Dad and I stayed up late listening to classic rock music.
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.
This post was originally part of "The Life of Zack" series on the "I Am Medley" blog.
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I wasn't literally raised by wolves, but I thought that would make a great title for this. So, I had a bunch of dogs growing up. At any given time, I probably had at least five dogs. When I was born, Mom & Dad had a little terrier named Cuppy (short for Cupcake). He was a good boy, and I remember spending time with him as a toddler. Mom & Dad caught me eating from Cuppy's food bowl with him once. But Cuppy was up in years, and passed away when I was only 3 or 4, living in Dennison at the time. Then there was Buddy. Buddy was a German Shepherd. We don't know what all he went through before he came to live with us and he never really talked about it. He was terrified of UPS deliverymen and didn't bark at anything. Dad thought he was incapable of barking. Then we took in another terrier, or in this case a terror. Sheppy was so wild, we couldn't keep him in the house - he destroyed everything in his path - tearing things up and escaping fences were his specialty. So we'd tie him up in the garage, or put him out in the kennel, eventually realizing he was happiest tied out under a tree in the yard. You know how we thought Buddy couldn't bark? Well, one day Sheppy the terror fixed that - he annoyed Buddy so much, that Buddy finally began to bark. After that, Buddy knew he could bark and we wouldn't hurt him. Somewhere in there, we also took in a half-wolf pup named Lady. She grew up to be regal, aloof and very wolf-like. She was fierce towards strangers, but gentle and protective towards us kids. The years passing, by now I had two little brothers. We were still living in Dennison and it was just the three dogs in those years. Buddy, Sheppy & Lady, the original pack. Then, Buddy and Lady had some puppies. I named them Dana & Dinah. At some point Dad even bought the land next to us, so we'd have another yard connecting our front and back yard. We had a blast playing with our five dogs in our huge yard. By this time our dogs were beginning to act like an actual wolf pack - Lady was the boss and the others followed her. The neighborhood was also changing, for the worse. We took in a sixth dog, his name was Spark. He'd been hit by a car down in the country near my grandfather's place and we brought him to our place and nursed him back to health. Not only did we have a large yard, we had a four-car garage, ample storage space and a kennel that connected to the garage, so we had plenty of room to care for another dog. This is where the negative changes in Dennison intersect with the dog's story. Spark was a good dog, very happy and well, "sparky;" he also barked at all the creepy people in the town. Up to this point, all the drug deals in the neighborhood had been conducted in close proximity to our house, and Spark did not approve. He barked all night long. There was also a guy who would ride his horse into town and tie it up where our dogs could see it and bark at. The police were called multiple times, but nothing changed. People were more concerned with our dogs shutting up so they could continue on with their lives, even if they were going out of their way to provoke the dogs. There were long sleepless nights, except for me, because I could sleep through a tornado. One day, Spark fell ill. It was bad. Eventually, Dad took him to the vet - but he didn't make it. The vet diagnosed it as "parvo," but everyone that has dogs knows that if it was parvo all the dogs would have died. We all knew that the dog was poisoned, and more than likely the vet was just trying to avoid getting involved. I'll never forget how sad Spark looked and how hard he tried to walk to the car by himself on that last day, or how heartbroken Dad was. It wasn't long after this that we began looking to move to the country, town wasn't for us anymore. We moved to an old farmhouse outside of Jewett on December 31st, 2000. We weren't able to move the dogs right away, so Dad cared for them everyday on his way to and from work in Uhrichsville. It was during this time that we took in Choco the Brown Dog. I won't rehash that story here, so be sure to read the blog about Choco. Then we got the dogs moved down to our new house. Lady, Buddy, Sheppy, Dana & Dinah took to the countryside like fish to water. By now they were a full-blown wolf pack. Lady was the alpha, Buddy her faithful mate. Sheppy was like the eccentric uncle of the family and Dana & Dinah followed along happily. I have so many memories, but I'll save most of them for the book that I plan to write about my dogs. It wasn't long after we moved to the country that people began harassing us here too. Soon after we moved the dogs to the country, the dog wardens showed up with reinforcements and tried to take our dogs. Turns out that Dad didn't license the dogs soon enough and they were more than happy to seize them all. It never really let up either. There were some people who dedicated their lives to relieving us of our canine responsibilities. We had people randomly showing up to criticize how we cared for the dogs. "They don't have enough food, they don't have enough water, their dog boxes aren't big enough, you don't spend enough time with them." I spent almost all day, every day with them; they were loved and cared for, but it didn't stop everyone from getting up in our business and weighing in. As the OG dogs got up in age, Sheppy got loose one day and ran away. He was always an escape artist and quite the adventurous little terror. This time though, he was captured by the dog wardens and kept locked in the back of the pound. We searched the countryside for days, repeatedly checking the pound. Finally, Dad decided to stop at the pound one last time in the middle of the night. It was a Saturday night, the pound was long closed - but Dad was finally able to hear Sheppy barking his lungs out in the back. The dog pound staff knew who he was and had determined to euthanize him without us knowing. Dad got a hold of the pound during the brief period of time they come in to feed the dogs on Sunday morning and we got him back. After his near miss, Sheppy never left our yard again. In the intervening years, Lady had developed a sort of blood feud with some of my human relatives and one day, Dana, who looked almost identical to Lady turned up dead. I only later realized that it was most likely an assassination attempt on Lady. I mean, it was hard to prove, but people weren't able to mess around our house and yard with a dog like Lady watching. More years pass, Buddy and Lady had one more batch of puppies. We kept one and named him Brownie. He was huge, brown with white paws. We saved some strays too, even successfully reuniting one with his people. There was this one ill-fated dog I took in. He had belonged to a family member, but no one really liked him and they all thought he was mean. His name was Bubba and he was a good dog, but misunderstood. Lady did not get along with him. Mom was going through cancer and us kids had to go away and spend some time with our grandparents while she received the dangerous radiation treatments. Dad took her to a cabin the woods so that she could be isolated and peaceful while going through the treatments. Our dogs were tied outside and cared for everyday, but one day I had a terrible feeling that something was wrong. I begged to go see the dogs, but grandma told me that grandpa was getting us a surprise if we would just sit down and wait. I never got to see the dogs that day, but the feeling of foreboding never lifted. The next day, Mom and Dad returned; but with the bad news that Bubba was dead. Someone had turned Lady loose so that she could kill Bubba. The terrible part was that I knew something was wrong and could have stopped it from happening, but with Mom and Dad out of town, no one was willing to take me down to see the dogs. I've always had to wonder whether the people who wouldn't take me down to the house were the ones who turned Lady loose. What was the surprise I was promised? That never really got answered. Lady never showed that aggression to anyone else, and frankly, I sometimes wonder whether Lady did it or not. Lady, Buddy, Sheppy, Dinah, Brownie. That's who was left. After this, the dogs being up in age began to die off. First was Buddy. I said goodnight to him one night and saw something in his eyes. He looked so tired. My Mom woke me up the next morning and told me he had never woke up. Then Sheppy. Poor guy was sick for a few days and then a storm rolled in. I was sitting with him under a tree in our backyard. It had been one of his favorite places to be. Sheppy was always terrified of storms though, but I was afraid of hurting him if I tried to move him. In his final moments, the clouds parted and light shone down on him. Lady wasn't herself for awhile before she went, arthritic and cranky. I spent time brushing her and talking to her. On the day she passed, I was glad she wasn't in pain anymore. Dinah had puppies somewhere in those years, Griz and Ebony. Griz keeled over and died one day though. I found that suspicious like some of the things that had happened before, but wasn't able to prove anything. We took in another stray that had been hit by a car. We named her Midnight and nursed her back to health. She had a puppy with Brownie named Bear. One of my brothers took in another Labrador named Brutus. Eventually, we found new homes for some of the younger dogs because they were killing our chickens. The older dogs passed away. Ebony was the very last one, she passed away just a few short years ago. This account is abridged, because there's no way I could fit everything about my dogs into one post - and I'm saving some stories for the book.
I miss all my dogs, they were my best friends growing up and that's how I was raised by wolves.
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.
This post is originally from the "2020" series on the "I Am Medley" blog.
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Mom and Dad spent the day contacting family members, working out what needs to be done for the funeral and all those details.
I dealt with the usual. Keeping the cats from hurting themselves and trying to figure out why I was locked out of my Instagram account. Yesterday, on Sunday, I had tried to share another cute cat photo and the app informed me that I was blocked from using my account for the day. The block lasted well into Monday, and I still don't know what it was I allegedly did that was so awful they had to lock me out.
When Mom and Dad did get home, we watched Jack Reacher. Mom and I had watched it a few years ago, but Dad had never seen it. (Mom only remembered bits and pieces). The 2012 movie starred Tom Cruise and filmed in Pittsburgh. I don't think I fully appreciated how awesome the movie is the first couple of times I had watched it.
I think they capture the beauty of Pittsburgh and the variety of people living in the valley. One of my favorite moments in the film is when Reacher is running from the crooked cop and hides among a crowd at a bus stop: one of the men in the group hands his ball cap to Reacher to disguise him from the passing cops.
Also found out today that my brother Nathanael has moved to Tennessee. Good for him. I'd like to move somewhere warmer. I'm still hoping to move to Australia later this year! :)
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.
"Secret Weapon" by Disciple. One of my favorite bands, I got to meet them back in July '17.
