Giving back

Our challenge took a backseat to a much more serious need.

The city of Kokomo suffered a devastating tornado a little more than a week ago. Many houses and businesses were destroyed and the recovery/rebuilding process is going to be a slow and arduous one. The Walter family escaped completely unscathed. We are incredibly thankful for all the prayers and concern that has been passed along on our behalf.

While we were personally unaffected, a great many people in our community where left with little or nothing after the storm. Erica, in her infinite wisdom, volunteered our help to clean up on Saturday. It was a time for us to be able to serve together as a family and a tangible reminder of all we have to be grateful for. We were humbled by all we saw.

Even though it was a cold and windy 20 degrees, the discomfort we felt was greatly outweighed by the joy of being able to do something for the kingdom. We are so blessed and it is necessary to be reminded that sometimes.

 We loved being able to serve next to our friends and fellow believers from Crossroads. A call went out and was answered by more than 75 people. People willing to put their own comfort aside and help out.

What had been full of debris and leaves was left much cleaner an hour later.

 "A joyful heart is good medicine..." -Proverbs 17:22

So proud of the work my family did. And did so with a smile on their faces.

No place to put everything that was destroyed. It lined the street on both sides.

It wasn't much and there is a long way to go, but I am glad to say that we were able to be there at the start. We will be committed to helping anyway we can.

Challenge #3

As many will tell you, I am the king of useless information that less than nobody cared about. Well, in a completely impractical challenge I am going to test my own knowledge (or lack there of as the case would have it).

Today at school I was given a book titled, "Obsessed with Star Wars". Perfect, right? It is a compendium of Star Wars information from across the six (existing) movies. 2,500 questions. The most interesting feature is that the answers aren't "in" the book. There is, in fact, a little device on the outside of the book which supplies the reader with a question. Upon the reader choosing an answer (as pushing A, B, C, or D on the device), one finds out whether or not they are correct.

I love Star Wars, but my knowledge is nowhere up to the challenge of answering all these questions. Let's make it a challenge. Each contestant will have a turn with the book answering 10 questions at random (which is the only way they come) from the book. The person that answers the most questions correct is the winner. This is going to be interesting.

The Rules:
1. Each contestant must answer each sequential question that is presented to them. No skipping or getting a question intentionally wrong to try again.
2. The contestant must, to the best of their ability, read the question and answers in full before selecting their choice.
3. This is completely random and is meant to be fun. I imagine a lot of guessing will be taking place. Should be good theater if nothing else.

Video of each participant will be loaded in the days to follow with results coming after the last video.

Sidenote:
Tomorrow we, as a family, are taking time to give a little back to the Kokomo community. We were mostly untouched by the tornadoes that ripped through Kokomo less than a week ago, but still feel the impact through our friends that were not as fortunate. The boys, Erica and I will be volunteering and helping to clean up in whatever way we can. Erica already has done much helping a classmate that was greatly affected by the storm and I couldn't be prouder of the example she has been this week. Our prayers continue to go out to the people that are still trying to piece their lives together after this tragedy. And we are doing our best to help them in any way we can.

First Contribution

When this whole thing started I said at various times there would be others participating along with the family. We have our first outside contributor. Even I was surprised that it happened as quickly as it did and was surprised that it came from a non-blood relation.

When I posted the cereal challenge a friend on facebook answered the call. I sent samples of each cereal to him so he and his wife could participate. Ben Blake is the first guest contestant in "The Walter Family Challenge".

Ben has been a part of my life longer than the others, but has already played an integral role in my family. This was the man who designed the program for the biggest day of my family's short life. Tasked with constructing a wedding program with members of the wedding party as famous superheroes, he was more than up for the job. It turned out great.

Upon receiving the cereal, Ben shared his excitement on facebook. He weighed in with his vote giving the edge to Franken Berry.

We are so blessed to be surrounded by people that share in the fun things that life can provide. We are also excited to head into the holiday season with fresh ideas that we will be able to experience (and document) with our family, large and small.

2013 Highlights

Their mother and I couldn't be prouder of the boys. They both had amazing football seasons this year with each of their respective teams going undefeated. Even more than the success of their teams, we were overwhelmingly proud of their sportsmanship the entire season. They were the consummate teammates on the sidelines and relentless players on the field.

Look for numbers 10 and 2 and marvel.

Turkey Run

Last weekend, The Walter family was able to get away for some camping/hiking. We had a ton of fun climbing boulders, trekking down rivers and taking lots of pictures.

Ender's Game

I can't even begin to think of how difficult it is to take 30 year old book with overlapping and complex themes, which every person that read it has a different part with which they attach themselves to, and try to condense it into a two hour movie. As with all novel adaptations, there were things left out, liberties taken (like having Bean being one of the Launchies from the start of the movie) and tone that is different from how I interpreted it.

All that said, "Ender's Game" is an enjoyable movie. Five likes:

1. Watching with Ethan and Aidan. I know this doesn't have anything to do with the movie specifically, but I loved how excited they were. How they looked forward to seeing the differences, seeing their imaginations come to life, and being able to discuss their thoughts intelligently.
2. The Battle Room. In the book there were multiple battle rooms which could be switched in and out. This gave the impression to me that they were long a cylindrical, but on the smaller side. In the movie there is only one battle room and it is massive. An exterior shot of the Battle School, it is the most impressive and imposingly noticeable part of the structure.
3. Zero gravity. In some movies it sometimes feels like you can see the hooks and wires, or tell where the CGI begins and ends, but this was not the case. The zero gravity scenes look beautiful with individuals reacting as one would think they would in the absence of gravity.
4. Sir Ben Kingsley. While subtle, and borderline soft spoken, it feels like he "gets" the character. While this shouldn't be at all surprising with such a well accomplished actor, he brought in the cerebral and psychological aspect to the story that needed to bridge the gap from the more physical parts of the film.
5. The Simulator. The climactic scene has explosions, ships going every direction, and one person in the middle of it all directing his squad leaders like conductor of an orchestra. The visuals were impressive, they were changing camera angles to keep you close to the action but not overwhelmingly so. With the final gut punch coming at the end, the tension leading up to that moment peaked and hits you in the face when the "simulator" comes back on.

There were also some dislikes. Five of those:

1. Bonzo being shorter than Ender. I don't remember this being the case in the book, but it kinda felt like a big deal that I should have remembered.
2. The Petra/Ender love interest angle. First, they're kids. Second, they're training to be killers.
3. The downplaying of everything that's happening on Earth with the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and Russia's (could have been changed to China or North Korea to be more current) forces moving against the west.
4. Needed more time with the desk. The game on the desk was such an important part of the psychological aspect of the book, I feel like they missed an opportunity with the movie.
5. No "Speaker for the Dead". The most heart-wrenching part of the book was nowhere to be seen. The only mention came from Rackham of all places when talking about his tattoos.

Bonus dislike: The previews. Awful. I was embarrassed having sat through them. I can't imaging paying money to see any of them. (Except "Mr. Peabody and Sherman". I would gladly pay to relive my childhood through those crazy Rocky and Bulwinkle characters.)

Overall "Ender's Game" was an enjoyable Sci-Fi movie that had enough similarities to the book to be considered the realm of accurate interpretation.

Next up: "Treasure Island"

The Belt Boys Go to the Movies

In the first of what will assuredly be a long series of videos, I present to you Ethan and Aidan's take on a movie we have recently seen. The movie this time is "Ender's Game".

We began reading the book at the beginning of the summer, knowing that the movie was coming out. While progress was slow during the summer (and slowed to a halt through football season), we busted through the last half of the book the week the movie came out. Here is what the boyos thought of the movie, the book and the differences between the two.

My thoughts to be detailed later.

Next on the docket..."Treasure Island". Multiple movies for a single book? Absolutely.

Challenge #2

Our second great challenge. Check it out to see who the obvious winner is. Suffice it to say this was not Drew.

It's The Great Pumpkin "Chunkin'" Charlie Brown

Or "Chucking" depending what region you are from.

For our second contest everyone will choose one of the carved pumpkins to throw. The rules are as follows:

1. In ascending order of age, each participant will choose the pumpkin they wish to *chunk.

2. Picking up of the pumpkins in a suitable measurement. We are attempting to give the youngest the opportunity to choose the pumpkins which are lightest while also attempting to level the playing field slightly.

3. Once the pumpkin has been chosen, it is yours until it is smashed to little bits.

4. Each contestant will release from the same starting line.

5. The pumpkin which travels the most distance (total cumulative distance does not just have to be in the air) is the winner.

6. Any pumpkins not smashed due to contact must be pulverized by other means...left to the discretion of the youngest present.

*I am still trying to figure out what a "chunkin'", but now that I have gotten in the habit of saying it, I can't not say it. Whatever it is, that's what we did. We had to find some way of disposing of our carved pumpkins.

Video of results to come tomorrow. Leave comments on who you think won.

The Final Countdown (Pumpkin)

Drew's pumpkin is last but not least. While I could have gone a multitude of directions, as with my interests, I went with something that is always near and dear. To the layman it may look like a pirate, those with a little more background knowledge I hope will appreciate.

What did Ethan choose?

You may have been asking yourself this very question. Well, anyone who knows this boy well enough can tell you that he is very much so about his video games. One video game that he particularly likes is "Minecraft". Even to the point of having a "Minecraft" cake for his birthday. So...in the spirit of spookiness connected with this time of year, Ethan turned his pumpkin into a Creeper.

In his words (when mom asked what a "creeper" was), "A creeper is a character in the Minecraft world that you can't see until it's too late. You don't know they're around until you hear them behind you and then it's too late. It's sure death."

I present to you, Ethan's Creeper pumpkin.

Done completely by hand. We were all very impressed.