Jul-Dec (click here for 2020a)

Thanks for visiting wp.krigline.com. Instead of “blogging,” I make an entry to this post (journal) about once a month. Find my current journal by clicking the “blog” tile above.

Dec 31, 2020

Before the calendar flips to 2021, let me close 2020 with a few Christmas photos. And if you missed “Christmas Around the World,” over 700 have already enjoyed it, and you can still watch. In fact, you can now find an updated version and two shorter video-segments on our (CIF) YouTube channel.

Dec 18, 2020

Last night, The Columbia International Festival (one of the charities I work for) presented our first YouTube Premier, called “Christmas Around the World.” It was a lot of work, but the program looked great! If you missed it, you can watch anytime on our new YouTube channel. As of this morning, it had over 300 views. It was fun to watch the “premiere” last night, and see everyone’s comments.

Nov 29, 2020

I’ve just added several photos of former students who helped us celebrate Christmas while we lived in Asia. Tonight, two local friends came to help decorate our Christmas tree!

Nov 11, 2020

Three photos and captions to bring you up to date.

Oct 25, 2020

Where does my time fly off to?? I try to post an update in the middle of each month, but October is almost over—sorry about that.

October has been an especially busy month for us. I’ve decided that it is my civic duty to be a poll-worker, and that required several hours of training before I work Nov 3, helping registered voters exercise their right to vote. On that day, thousands of citizens like me will work from 5:45am to an hour or two after the polls close at 7 pm. Vivian and I did this in Ohio several years ago, but this is my first time in South Carolina.

In addition, I’m teaching a weekly class on stewardship for a church in Ohio (by Zoom). My Mom is one of the students, so this class has been a particular joy. Vivian also participates, unless she needs to be taking care of our grandchildren. At present, they attend school in-person only twice a week (short days), which means lots of supervision by Grandma five days each week. But the public schools have announced that they will expand to four days in November.

On top of that, I’ve had an especially busy month, doing things connected to the HK charity and its US partner, for whom I still work part-time. Meanwhile, I’ve created (and taught) two new lessons about Columbus Day, which are posted on my other website (EFLsuccess.com).

Sep 12, 2020

Vivian made the local news tonight. The Babcock Center, an historic State Hospital where one of Vivian’s relatives passed away ages ago, caught fire overnight, and was basically gutted. When Vivian heard about the fire, she went to see what she could see, and she said she wasn’t alone. Apparently, many people will miss seeing the iconic tower of a landmark that’s been in Columbia since 1857. While she was looking around, Vivian was interviewed by two media outlets.

Until Fox takes the report down, you should be able to watch Vivian on the local news by clicking below.
https://wach.com/news/local/some-in-columbia-community-saddened-by-babcock-building-fire?jwsource=cl

With students back on campus at the University of South Carolina, Michael enjoys meeting internationals on Thursdays, when the Baptist Center near campus offers a free lunch (observing “social distance” of course!).

Aug 21, 2020

In early August, our grandkids got the opportunity to be in “day care” (school) for a few days. After months at home, they were happy for a change in venue! This gave us the chance to drive to Ohio, to be with Michael’s Mom as she recovered from eye surgery. I’ll say more in the captions….

After a week with Mom, we spent a night near the Virginia/North Carolina border, and then enjoyed a few hours on or near the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway before driving back to Columbia, SC.

When looking at the left-behind chimney shown above, it struck us that a few bricks upon each other were clear evidence that “intelligent” beings had built here, while most visitors are blind to the remarkable evidence in the trees, reforestation mechanisms, DNA all around them, and order in Nature that also point to an intelligent Creator. As Paul put it: “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” (Rom 1:19-20)  Click here for a related article (and book) on CBNnews.

July 19, 2020

I stay busy, working from home, while Vivian continues to care for our grandchildren. In the past month or so, I’ve participated in two Zoom conferences, and I can’t even remember how many Zoom meetings. But we also have a “local” life, so let me show a few photos.

The highlight of this past month has been VBS: Vacation Bible School. Normally, VBS is a BIG church event, with music, games, stories, displays, and much more. But with COVID-19, churches could not invite children to a normal VBS program. Fortunately, we were able to log in and enjoy an online VBS this year. My work schedule didn’t allow three consecutive days, so we spread the fun over three Wednesdays. Normally, kids would be with others their own age, so it was sometimes a challenge to include the whole range from age 3-9, but I think everyone had fun and learned valuable lessons.

(click here for 2020a) (click here for 2019 blog)

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