A Random Guitar Practice Tune

Jakob is currently taking guitar lessons. One day not so long ago I heard him playing a pretty tune, so I went in and recorded his practice time. Its not perfect, but not too shabby for only having the song for about a week.

I was going to edit out the part in the beginning where I told him to ignore me, or the ending where he gives the cheesy smile, but I decided it was better just the way it is, a snippet of our everyday life.

Random Jakob guitar practice from Hansen Webel on Vimeo.

Why don't I...

...feel like blogging anymore? I mean, I have all sorts of great pictures I could post. Pictures of our trip to NJ over Christmas for the Webel Christmas, pictures of kids playing in the snow, pictures of them playing basketball, funny videos I have taken with our new video camera... Shallow thoughts and deep thoughts... Spiritual thoughts and political thoughts... But there are so many other things I usually would rather be doing than trying to make my brain work in front of the computer...

Touching Story

John has been a bagpipe player for over 35 years. This is one of his true stories.

As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a Funeral Director to play at a grave-side service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery in the Kentucky back-country.

As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost; and being a typical man I didn't stop for directions. I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch.

I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn't know what else to do, so I started to play.

The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I've never played before for this homeless man.

And as I played "Amazing Grace" the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car.

Though my head hung low, my heart was full.

As I was opening the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, "Unbelievable. I never seen nothin' like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for over twenty years."

Flag Football 2009

This past fall Jakob had a lot of fun playing NFL flag football. His team went 9-0-1, and he was the star of the show, catching lots of passes and running for way too many touchdowns for me to count.I didn't get a ton of video, but here are a few of the highlights that I was able to catch.

Hrubik Christmas Eve Pics

The kids table. Not sure who that "big kid" in the grey flannel shirt is...The adults table.
Mike and Suzi.
Amelia.
Just visiting.
Boy cousins Jakob and James.
Father and son.
A few goofballs.
Ilona in the "Daddy Chicken."
Jesslyn, Jakob, and Amelia.
Jim, the master slicer.
Tony and Matt.
James chills.
Luke and Jesse, before he bonked his head on the ceiling...
Stephanie and Tony.
Jakob and Uncle Matt.
Tuckered out after the fun of a mass cousin wrestling event.
Jammies on and ready to go home.

Miscellania

Here are some hodge podge pictures from this past fall. The first ones are from a "Daddy Date" when I took the kiddos to see the Ringling Circus for their 3rd and final time. (Mommy got the day off.)



Here's a picture and video of some guy playing Twister with his kids, and actually WINNING. Pay no attention to the growing bald spot on the top of his head...


We let the kids decide if they wanted to go trick or treating this year, and only Jakob and Jesslyn wanted to. (Free candy, anybody?) Jakob dressed up as Moses, and Jesslyn as Ruth. Its fun to have them pick a Bible character to dress up as every year to shed some light around the neighborhood on Satan's special night.
Jakob re-used his costume and dressed up as Moses for a school assignment. (One of our little lights in the public school.) Designing those giant cardboard Red Sea replicas to stay standing up wasn't easy, believe me...
Here I am at my, er, 29th birthday, yeah... blowing out the candle in the middle of the treat, Golden Graham Bars from Sam's Club. I just LOVE those things!
For Christmas, Rebekah sewed "matching jammies" for the girls. I couldn't sew my way out of a paper bag if my life depended on it...And what post full of miscellaneous topics would be complete without a few pictures of Charlie? Its a good thing he's such a loved dog and clueless as to how silly he looks in this outfit. Oh, the things that dog puts up with...
Here he is getting a winter bath in (GASP!) the people bath tub. We went from NEVER having an "inside dog," to having an inside dog BATHING in our tub. Wow.
And finally... Jakob and Charlie built this snowman all by themselves. I'll let you guess which one of them did most of the work.

Fall Walks

Has it been a whole month since I promised to do a few catch up posts? Oh well. Better late than never.

Because of my heavy workload during that last semester, we only went on 2 or 3 family walks while the leaves were changing. This first pic is at the entrance to one of our favorite hiking paths that winds along a river on the edge of town. I like the way the opening in the woods beckons you in to see what mystery awaits on the other side.... (For another mystery, read Ephesians 1:9-10 and 3:1-12)
The three munchkins. I like the reflection on the water...

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 1 Cor 13:11-12
This picture reminds me that though the path we walk on may be straight and narrow (Matt 7:14), if we take the time to look around us, we should be able to see God's golden glory all around us on that path.
I liked the knotty spot on this tree for the fact that even though this tree endured an unknown hardship at some time in its life, it grew through that pain and was standing tall. It also reminded me of the blessing of having been mercifully "grafted in" to God's kingdom. (Romans 11:11-24)
This pink tree is "daring to be different." I like that.
I don't usually title my pictures, but I thought that "reflections" was a good name for this one.


A boy and his dog are not easily separated. Notice the "river mucking" boots...
Even though this isn't actually wheat, it reminded me of how sinners are like the chaff that the wind blows away, in direct contrast to the upright who are like the many vibrant trees we passed that were planted along the river's edge, drawing their strength and life directly from the life giving water. (Psalm 1)
The path of life leads upward for the wise to keep him from going down to the grave. Prov 15:24