Mood:  a-ok

Recently I found out about an opportunity from The Old Schoolhouse (TOS) Magazine where I could become part of a select group of reviewers to recieve free homeschool products. All I had to do was try them out, review them on my blog and generally let others know about them. Well, you know that with the Tinkel's budget, anything free sounded very appealing. So I looked into it. One hundred people are going to be chosen to be part of TOS' "Homeschool Crew - Focus Group". To be picked as part of the crew, I have to write a review of a preselected e-book (Don't know what an e-book is? You'll find out!) and a preselected line of products by the end of April. So, be looking for my first review in the next few days.

Now, I know what some of you are going to say..."We aren't homeschoolers!". That would almost be true. Many of you do send your kids  to a public or private school and aren't homeschoolers. But, what if I changed it from home "schoolers" to home "educators"? Did you teach your children the ABC's? Did you teach your kids how to tie their shoes? Do you help your young students with their homework? Are you always looking for those teaching moments when you spend time with your young ones? If you answered "yes" to any of the above, then you are a home educator, and many of these products will apply to you as well. Homeschooling doesn't always mean that you have to go out and buy expensive curriculum. Many home educators use everyday things or develop their own resources. Many of these things are appealing to parents who just want to help their child in school or supplement their education. Grandparents or babysitters may even find some of these products useful. I read some of the reviews from last year and they were for some really neat things that anyone can use with any child. I'm looking forward to trying out some new products and passing on what I think to you. I hope that you find some of them useful even if you don't homeschool. Let me know if you enjoy reading my reviews, and happy homeschooling...er...I mean home educating!

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Mood:  chillin'

No, this isn't a commentary on all of the shootings that have taken place around our country this past week. However, my heart and prayers go out to all of the families and individuals involved. If you were to ask me what this post is about, I really couldn't give you a definite answer. It's kind of general, it's kind of about my family, and it's kind of political, but since I couldn't fit all three in the Topic line above, I just put Family. After all, this blog is primarily about the family and how to strengthen it and my family is a priority.

I am forever joining email lists...freebies lists, political lists, homeschool lists, you name it, I am a member. Sarah gets super irritated with me because our email box is so full, I rarely get around to cleaning it out. Recently I subscribed to an email newsletter titled "The Shooting Wire". It was suggested to me by the people at Bend of the River where Joshua and John Allen shoot. The following Herbert Hoover quote was contained in the newsletter:

"We have overworked the word 'new.' The practical thing, if we want to make the world over, is to try out the word 'old' for a while. Some old things made this country. Some old things are slipping and if they slip too far, the light will go out of America - old virtues, old religious faith, whole truth, integrity, honor in public office, economy in government, individual liberty, willingness to sacrifice. Our greatest danger is not from invasion by foreign armies. Rather our great danger is suicide by compliance with evil."

Whether you think Herbert Hoover was a good president or not (read his Wikipedia biography, it's fascinating),  I think the above quote speaks volumes when compared to our countries' situation today. This isn't a commentary against or for anyone in particular. There are good and bad people and good and bad actions being taken on both sides of the aisle. This is, however, something to read and "chew upon". That is my political contribution for the day.

Now for my family contribution. Two weekends ago, March 28, was the pre-state shooting match and both John Allen and Joshua did great. Pre-states is a preparatory match that any shooting club can attend that prepares the shooters for the upcoming state match. Joshua, for a first time shooter, shot well. Better than John Allen did at his first pre-state match. John Allen ended up doing much better than anyone expected and shattered his personal best record. He qualified for the shoot-off where the top 8 shooters compete head to head in the standing position and ended up placing 6th overall! He was in the top 10 in three out of four positions, and placed 2nd in the test portion (check out the results here)! After the competition, his coach sent an email saying that John Allen "had improved his chances greatly for going to internationals". John Allen is really pumped, and we have been traveling to Bend of the River during the week for extra practices. Last Saturday, however, wasn't one of his better practices, but everyone is entitled to one bad day, and this Saturday is a new practice and a new chance to improve. April 18 is the official state match and I will let you all know what happens. Thanks for all of your support and prayers.

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Mood:  lazy

Hi All,

Just click on the link to the left for our latest prayer letter. As most of you know we lost all of our email addresses a couple of weeks ago and tried to reconstruct the list. If you usually recieve our prayer letter through email and you haven't recieved it yet, or if you would like to be put on our email list, please drop us a note and let us know what your email address is and we will put you on (or back on) the list. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Tim

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Mood:  irritated

Hi All,

This has not been a good day. As you will read in the following email, someone hijacked my email address book, sent false emails to all of my contacts and then erased all of my email addresses. It has taken hours to try to reconstruct my email address book and I know I have forgotten someone (or two or three or dozen). That is why I am sending this to my facebook friends and posting it here on my blog. So many of you overlap that I am hoping that I hit everyone.

For those of you who just stop by and read my blog from time to time but aren't on my email list, let this be a warning to you. Never browse the internet on an unsecured network. If you would like to be put on our email list and be the first to read our prayer letters and get updates on when I write new entries to my blog, then please send me your email address to the email listed below. 

Again, I'm sorry if this has caused an inconvenience. Please forgive me. Here is the email that explains all of the fuss.

Dear Friends and Family,

Someone recently wrote to ask if we had sent the following email:

Dear friend:
I would like to introduce you a corporation which mainly sell electronic products.Now the company is doing sales promotion,and all the products are sold nearly at its cost price.What's more,they provide their customers the best service and products which is good in qulity and low in price.It is a good chance for shopping,so improve the shining hour.Its now or never! Regards! The web address: www.sulecn.com

WE DID NOT SEND THIS EMAIL!!!
Please delete this email immediately. I don't believe that it contains a virus, but at any rate it was sent under false pretenses. I am very sorry for this. Somehow, someone has gotten my email list and sent it to all of my friends, family and acquaintances that are on my list. They then deleted my entire address book, so I have had to reconstruct it from previous emails. It has taken hours and I know I have missed some people. I'm so angry I could spit nails. We are visiting my sister, nephew, and mother in NJ and I connected to an unsecured network. I have learned my lesson, I will never do that again.

From here on, we will make sure that we do not have everyone's names and emails listed when we send an email. Someone recently told us how to do that, and we are now glad that they did. Also, we will always include our email address after my name, and a link to my blog. If any email from us does not contain these things, please check with us before you open it. There may be a time that we forget to include all of those things, but we will endeavor to include all of that info so that you will know that it is authentic. I am going to also try to report this violation to yahoo to see if anything can be done, but I doubt it can. Again, I am very sorry.

Tim Tinkel
tink38570@yahoo.com
FamiliesAgain Blog

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I'm sure most of you, if you don't know me personally, have figured out that I am a Christian and I am fairly conservative politically. Most of you also know, if you have been coming here for any length of time, that the purpose of this blog is not political but to strengthen the family. Sometimes, however, the two cannot be seperated and I feel that this is one of those times.

Before I go any further, let me tell you that I am for stem cell research - just not research using embryos - discarded from fertility clinics or aborted and especially those created only for the purpose of research to be created and then killed. I feel that life begins at conception and should be valued from the moment that the first cell splits to make two. 

I feel, in my limited reading on the subject, that umbilical cord blood and other stem cell sources are just as valuable and can be used just as effectively without the need to create life and then destroy it. 

I will say no more on the subject. I have many friends who have Muscular Dystrophy, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease and other things that stem cell research could help in the future. Perhaps some of the problems that my own children have can be helped by this type of research in the future. I only pray that this experimentation can be done in an ethical way.

With all of that said, I would like to direct you to a link from BBC News on the development of synthetical blood using stem cell research. I found the side bar "Making Fake Blood from Embryos" most compelling as it states that the "Embryo created from IVF is tested for O-negative blood group, then allowed to develop for several days until stem cells can be extracted". Of course we know that when the stem cell is extracted, the embryo is destroyed. Just press on any of the mentions of BBC News in this blog entry to connect with the article.

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