Veterans Day

A special thank-you today to all our armed forces who have served or still are serving our country!

"In Honor of our Heroes" by Ronald Reagan

"For men shall be lovers of their own selves. . . lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God"

"Those who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants."  ~William Penn

I greatly fear for my country when Americans are willing to give up their liberty for welfare and government handouts... for their "Obama phones" (if you haven't seen that, it's here).

We were all quite discouraged when we looked up the results this morning. It makes me sick (and angry) to think how far our country has come away from principles on which it was founded. Most people today have no principle. They live only for what they can get for as little work as possible. They snub God's Word, God's people, and God Himself.

"Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? ... Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me. How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger." (Job 21:7)

"Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine." (Job 18:5)

The wicked will have their hay day, but it will be short-lived.


"God grants liberty only to those who love it and are always ready to guard and protect it." ~Daniel Webster

We must always defend our rights and liberties. We must always stand for our beliefs.

Our light shines brightest in the dark.

Presidential Election 2012

Today, our country votes between a Muslim and a Mormon.

Today, our country votes between abortion and life.

Today, our country votes between gun control and the right to keep and bear arms.

Today, our country votes between big government and federalism.

Today, our country votes between Communism and freedom.

You fill in the blank. The list could go on.  The choice seems to be obvious, yet they say the race is still close.

Why? These guys can answer much better than I can attempt to:

"America is great because America is good. When America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."  ~Alexis de Tocqueville

"Liberty is impossible without morality, and morality is impossible without faith."  ~Alexis de Tocqueville

"Our ancestors established their system of government on morality and religious sentiment. Moral habits, they believed, cannot be safely trusted on any other foundation than religious principle, nor any government be secure which is not supported by moral habits. . . Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens."  ~Daniel Webster

"Religion and virtue are the only foundations . . . of republicanism and of all free government."  ~John Adams

"It is impossible to rightly govern . . . without God and the Bible." ~George Washington

"Though the people support the government, government should not support the people."  ~ Cleveland 

"Americanism means the virtues of courage, honor, justice, truth, sincerity and hardihood—the virtues that made America. The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, and love-of-soft-living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life."

~ Theodore Roosevelt

"The meaning of America is not to be found in a life without toil. Freedom is not only bought with a great price; it is maintained by unremitting effort."    ~ Calvin Coolidge

There's your answer.

I have a Nephew!

Here are some pictures of the new addition to the Byler family. Victor Peter was born early, early Thursday morning, October 18th, weighing 6lb. 15oz., just a little tyke! 

Mom and Dad went up to see him the weekend after he was born. These pics are from then.

with Grandma =)

Victor with Grandma and Granddad (seems really weird thinking of my parents as grandparents!)

Mommy (Priscilla) holding Victor..

and Daddy (Paul).

Awww... isn't he cute?

Love that face!! =D

Paul, Priscilla and little Victor are coming down for Thanksgiving (which we are all looking forward too), and I'm sure I'll have plenty more pictures of him then!

American History Day

This past Wednesday we had American History Day in chapel. Yes, just this past Wednesday... are you proud of me for getting the pics on the blog in the same week?! =D 

We already had the dresses that Beth and I wore, and Mom and I made my apron since we didn't have a plain white one. Daniel's clothes weren't hard at all, as those of you who know Daniel can imagine. How hard is it for a little boy who plays cowboys almost every day to dress up as a cowboy? =)

Just because I'm mean and like to test your knowledge, I'm not going to tell you who we were. You have to guess. =D We had to give hints so I'll give you those:

For Bethany's character: She was born in 1764. Her husband was a President. She saved important papers and portraits from the White House when it burned in 1814. (Here's the big hint:) Her husband is called the "Father of the Constitution."

For My character: She was born in Massachusetts in 1744. Her husband was an ambassador to France, Holland, and Great Britain (at different times, of course). Both her husband and son were U.S. Presidents.

For Daniel's character: He rode fast horses and carried mail. He fought in the Civil War and was a scout during the Plains Wars. He is also known for shooting many buffalo.

Think, think, think! (Stop looking at the end of the post!!!!!) =D

We didn't smile in this picture cause they didn't smile in pictures back then.... well, I guess they really didn't have cameras back then...

From Left to Right

Back Row: Megan (Virginia Dare); Bethany (Dolly Madison); Amber (Sacagawea); Me (Abigail Adams); Leah (Clara Barton); Seth (Noah Webster); Jonathan (Billy Sunday)

Front Row: Savanna (Martha Washington); Tabitha (Martha Washington); Daniel (Buffalo Bill Cody); Caleb H. (Abraham Lincoln); Caleb G. (Thomas Edison); Mason (Davy Crocket); Andrew (Daniel Boone)

Did you guess right? If not, go review your history!! =D

Catch-Up

I'm sorry I've gotten rather behind on blogging lately. School and work have been keeping me pretty busy. I know, I really need to get my priorities straightened out... school can wait, right? =D (Talk to the teacher!)

Let's see... I guess a week and a half ago, the 10th to be exact, was the Math Bee (aka, Fall Torture Session =D). I don't have a lot of pics on here cause the lighting wasn't too good and most of them were blurry.

Anyway, in the end the winners turned out to be Caleb Hoyle, Daniel, and Bethany, respectively. But everyone did very well.

This past week was the NC State Fair, and we went on Friday. I had to work in the morning, so Mom, Dad, Daniel, and Beth went up earlier and Nate and I waited till the afternoon.

along the pond

Daniel having fun in a helicopter

Guys don't outgrow toys... the toys just grow along with them.

Daniel having a pony ride

Nate and I were able to bring my friend Megan with us when we came later. This picture (Bethany, Megan, and I) was taken in the horse complex where we were watching the Cowboy Mounted Shooting.

 Cowboy Mounted Shooting is a mixture of barrel racing and marksmanship. Ten cones are placed in a certain design in the arena with a balloon tied to the top of each. Each rider, following the certain pattern, shoots the first five balloons with one pistol, changes guns to the other one in his holster, rides around the barrel and comes back shooting the last five balloons. Fastest time wins. Each missed balloon adds five points to the rider's time. It's pretty cool. The pictures are all blurry as you can imagine, but I got a couple videos. The rider in the video below was second if not the best of the ones that were there. The others didn't go as fast as he does in this video.

Afterward, Bethany, Megan, and I went and looked around at some of the fair sights, and got some yummy things to eat. We got some pumpkin funnel cakes, which I had never had before, and they were delicious.

Megan and I in front of a giant motorized shopping cart. Yes, I did say a giant motorized shopping cart. Crazy, right?

Then Saturday evening we had a cookout and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, made pizza mountain pies, ate s'mores, and just had a fun relaxing evening. And played our version of 20 questions--history style! =D

So that's what has been going on since the last time I posted. Hope you all are having a great autumn as well!

Bible Character Day

Chapel on Wednesday this week was Bible Character Day. We each had to dress us as a Bible character and bring some facts or hints about that person for the others to guess who we are. (Sorry some of these pics got a little blurry).

Mom fixing "Queen Esther's" hair

Getting ready...

Bethany (Esther), Me (Lydia), and Daniel (David)

At chapel... Pastor held little Titus up to see us all, and he didn't know what to think!

Almost all of the characters were pretty easy to guess. Everyone had great costumes, though I don't have individual pics of each.

All of us together... From left to right...
Back row:  Samson (Jonathan), Joseph (Seth), Esther (Bethany), Jael, with her nail =) (Amber), Lydia (Me), Miriam (Megan), Pharaoh's daughter (Leah)
Front row: Moses (Andrew), Solomon (Caleb), David (Daniel), another Esther (Savanna), Tabitha, or Dorcas, as the Bible uses both names (Tabitha), Josiah (Mason), John the Baptist (Caleb).