The Rebelution Conference 2

Howdy, Howdy!

It's been a busy summer so far. Chores, math, business(I recently finished the manula for our next product-Mammoth swings), reading, and other things. But I don't mind at all. I would rather be busy doing productive things than sitting around with nothing to do.

So we got back from the Rebelution conference technically on Sunday. 1:30 AM to be precise. It was a wonderful conference. The car ride there and back was fun also, if not a little goofy. :)

Friday, June 22nd, 11:45 am- We departed Grants Pass with Shelli and Ruth Owen, and Sarai Conard.

12:30 pm- We met up with the Deems and Holsts in Medford, then departed.

Some time in between our back left van tire unraveled.

Around 6pm- Arrived at the hotel and unpacked. We got our tire replaced at a tire shop and had dinner at McDonalds. We then went to the capital building area while listening to Lincoln Brewster; that was fun. After that we went back to our hotel, went on a walk to the river, had some ice wars, and played some outdoors games. Near the end of the walk I raced Dillon back to the hotel and, of course, he won. Consequently, we got sweaty; so we went swimming at the hotel pool and swam 'til it was dark.
After drying off, we played some card games and then went to bed at a late hour. The Deems and I slept in one room, Dad, Nathan and the Holst guys slept in another, and the girls had their own room.

Saturday, June 23rd, 6 am- I woke up.
6:15 am- I went outside for a walk. It was really pretty and really bright; much to the Deems dismay. Because, when I came back to our room, I had to open the door and let the sunlight in for a few brief moments. It was really funny, too, because as I did it they all groaned and rolled over at the same time. I quickly closed the door and chuckled quietly to myself..... Poor souls.
8:00 am- By now we were all fed, packed up and ready to go to the conference.
We arrived at the conference, registered and said hi to everyone we knew.

Here is a summary of the 4 sessions at the conference-

Session 1- The Myth of Adolescence
-Alex Harris


Session 2- Do Hard Things
-Brett Harris


Session 3- Character and Competence
-Gregg Harris(father)


Session 4- Companionship
-All 3 Harrises

I will post more in depth about the sessions later; along with some pictures.

The Rebelution Conference

Hey y'all,
My family and I are going to be done in Sacramento, California for a Rebelution conference on the 22nd and 23rd.
Alex and Brett Harris are teenage twins from Portland who are, in a way, heading the "Rebelution movement". Their motto is "Do hard Things." It's basically a rebellion against the culture's low expectations for us teenagers. The culture expects teens to be rebellious, sullen, lazy, irresponsible, foolish, self-centered party animals who have no direction in their lives. Though they do not say it explicitly, they advertise it through TV, media, and music. It's everywhere.
So, the Rebelution is for doing hard things for the Lord and rebelling against our culture's expectations. They define the Rebelution as "a teenage rebellion against the low expectations of an ungodly culture." Their theme verse is 1 Timothy 4:12- "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." Click here to read more of what the The Rebelution is all about.

Their website includes their blog, forums, and more. Nathan, my brother, is actually an administrator on their forums.
We first met Alex and Brett and the Harris family at a Homeschooling Conference where they and their father, Greg Harris, gave a session about the benefits of a speech club.
So our family started getting this crazy idea that we could start our own speech club here in Grants Pass. We talked about it with some of our friends and decided to start one. The first year there were just 3 families including us. The 2nd year 2 other families joined. And then the 3rd year our club just exploded. I have grown soo much through speech club and learned so many important things about communication. At times it was pretty scary, but it was through those times that I was able lean on God and trust Him better.
I've heard statistics show that the majority of people today fear public speaking more than they do death. For a long time I was a part of that majority but now, through practice and speech club, it's not nearly as scary as it was before. In fact, it's fun!!! I've never grown so much and had soo much fun as I have through speech club. Praise God for speech club!!! :)

So, back to the Harris family. They inspired us to start a speech club which has been a huge blessing. We were able to get to know them more at speech tournaments and so forth. In fact we recently went and stayed with them for a John Piper conference. They are such a great family with a passion for the Gospel and reforming the culture. Their oldest son, Joshua Harris, is well-known for his book "I Kissed Dating Good-bye" which is well worth reading.

Anyway, we will be gone partly Friday and all day Saturday. I will try to take some pictures and some notes to tell you all about it.

Check out the Rebelution here- www.TheRebelution.com

Father's Day

Hey, hey, hey!!! How's everyone doing?... Good? ...That's just wonderful! Well, I'm glad to be back after all these long years.....yup. oh wait.....It hasn't even been a week. *sigh* Oh well....I must have been dreaming. :)

Anyway, in case you were wondering, I didn't die or anything; I've just been enjoying a busy life in the beautiful summer-time.

Summer break has technically started for us, though we are still a little busy. For us Sleadds, we almost always find things to busy ourselves with. Events and parties to plan and go to, money to earn, and endless things to learn. Life is good. Sadly, much too often I take the innumerable blessings God has given me for granted; as if I deserve them anyway.

One of God's blessings to me is a christian family and friends. Yesterday was father's day and after church we went to Roseburg to have a barbeque with our relatives (on mom's side). We had hamburgers. They were delicious. The Raynors(mom's sister's family) live on around 10 acres(I think) and they own goats and steers. They have their steers butchered and sell the meat. They also keep some of the meat and that's what our hamburgers were made of. I don't think I've eaten any hamburgers that tasted better than the Raynor's. They were expertly grilled to a medium-rare and blanketed with a slice of cheddar by my uncle Rich; a master chef indeed. Plop that in between 2 fluffy buns with onions slices, juicy tomatoes, sweet mustard, tangy dill pickles, crisp lettuce, and thick mayonnaise, and you've got a beautiful master piece of art; to be consumed in a matter of minutes. Then it's time to go back for seconds. AAaawww.....doesn't that just make you drool? I hope not; wouldn't be good on your computer. :)

So afterward, we played with our toddler cousins. I think they liked us. They never stopped wanting us to toss them. Then we went to our grandparent's, a few miles away from the Raynors.
Here are some pictures-

On a walk to see the river at grandparent's

It was soo beautiful!

At the Raynor's with Cara

Ian and Cara

Swing

Well, in one of my earlier posts I had mentioned posting more about a giant swing I built, so here are some pictures.

Nathan and I putting up the first board.


Screwing it in.

It was 20 feet at the top of the ladder. Pretty high. Makes your knees wobble a little.


The ladder


Nathan on the zip-line
(I snapped the picture from the ladder)


Our house from up high


Itty-bitty Caleb

"Don't look down!"

"Whoa. That's really high!"
(You can see Caleb just below me)


"Pretty scary, eh?"

Back to my normal state of coolness.

Caleb enjoying the new swing

Even the chickens aren't too chicken to try it out!

Updates

Lake of the Woods campsite.

Well, here I am, after not posting for nearly a week! I'm surprised Destiny hasn't popped yet! BWAHAHAHA!!! OOoooh...*sigh*...Ok. That was mean. I'm sorry.

Anyway, we've done alot of things in the last week which y'all have probly missed out on. Well, after boating last Monday we continued our regular school through Friday. On Friday, mom and I finished all the stuff you have to do to get a passport.
You see, I'm goin' to China in October with my grandma. For 2 weeks. And one of the places we're going to stay will be just like the Bahamas. Yup. Don't be too jealous, because I'm gonna miss 2 weeks of school during that time. *Schucks* So while you're sitting there, at your desk, with writers block, your pencil in your mouth, looking out the window, I'll be enjoying a nice cold glass of lemonade and a straw, with my shades on, rocking in a hammock, on the beach, under the shade of some coconut trees, sighing contentedly that I'm not doing any school. AAaawww.......It'll be wonderful. heehee. ;)

On Saturday, Nathan and I did a bunch of Sleaddventures packaging and so forth. We got around 30 ziplines packaged! (I was going to post about that sometime. Remind me later.) It took us about all morning and afternoon. Then, at 4, we went to a small party for Steven Sommerfeld because his chemo-therapy was over. There was football, volley-ball, and....(can ya guess?...)..... Ultimate Frisbee!!! There was also pizza and Mountain Dew. It was at Riverside Park.

Then, on Sunday, we went to Church early to set up as usual. Except that there were some other people who were doing worship. They did a great job.
I love doing worship for church(drums) or just singing worship while other people play. When I'm not playing I can just focus on singing and sometimes I'll raise my hands. When I am playing I can still sing and have a blast doing the music. I must say, drums add a lot to music. They add power, variations in the dynamics, and they keep the band together. I love 'em! I think Davy(a fellow drummer) would have to agree with me. :)
We had alot of visitors at church and dad preached on revelation. I was joking with dad that all the visitors came to see him preach. He smiled.
Next Sunday we're doing worship for Bear Creek Church (a sister church to Coram Deo).
So after church, we went to the Quaids for a leisurely afternoon. But after awhile we got a little hyper and I started a water fight. We got pretty wet but it was worth it. We rode their moped and scooters up and down their driveway.

And then today, I've been studying the Holiness of God for apologetics. It is very humbling and exciting to learn about our magnificent and awesome God.
God has been soo good to me. I wouldn't want to be anyone else then what God has created me to be. He's given me a wonderful family, great friends, a free country, a laptop, church, talents, music, His infinite Grace, His mercy, and countless more blessings; but most of all, He's given me eternal life through the sacrifice of His only Son, Jesus Christ.
And all we can do is worship Him.

I was thinking maybe I should post a homeschooling speech I wrote awhile ago. Remind about that later, too. :)

At Coos Bay almost a year ago

Boating and Pictures

We went boating with the Moores today! It was a BLAST!!! Alexa, Caleb, and I left for Lost Creek Lake at 1:00, with the Moores. They have a very nice stretch-van(15-passenger) and they are great friends.

The water was warm (75degrees) but the weather was kind of chilly for boating. We had wet-suits so it wasn't that cold.

We were out on the lake at about 2:30 and boated until 4:30. We would have gone longer but it started to rain. Now, you might be thinking "Oh, come on! What's a little rain when you're already wet?"(or maybe you're not but that's beside the point...:-) ). But this wasn't any old rain, it was one of those drenching downpours that comes with thunder-storms. It was kind of cool to see the "wall" of rain come closer and closer as we boated. They were those huge fast-falling raindrops that sting your face when you're going 25 mph. Heehee...it was an awesome adventure. We got drenched just packing everything up. That was probably the most exciting part.
That or holding on with frozen fingers for dear life as you nearly get flung into the murky shark-infested waters. Actually I got flung off once or twice and lost a sandal to a Great-White as I wrestled to keep him from biting off my leg. Too bad you missed it. I finally gave him such a whopper on the nose that he was content to just eat my sandal.
Anyway here are some pictures-

My great friend Zane Moore

Zane and I

It's hard to tell in the picture, but it's pouring down rain.

Zane and.....me (Scaring off another hungry shark)

Olivia Moore driving

Me just out of the water after winning a battle with a Great-White, yet with a sandal missing.

Zane and Alexa

So, the moral of the story is- go enjoy the outdoors, praise God, and watch out for Great-Whites. Cha-ching.

-Aaron

Recent Events

So, about the "Once a month cooking day". Well, yesterday (Friday, June 1) we had a regular morning- wake up with saggy and crusty eyes-lids and try to stumble your way to the living room with our eyes half closed. Yup.
The only difference was that I finished the 20-foot swing I have been working on for the last week as part of Sleaddventures. Then I did school the rest of the time until noon. Then we (the Sleadd kids) went to the Deems in Central point. We cooked a total of 60 meals from 12:30pm to around 6:00pm. Dylan and I worked together to make 12 meals. 4 meals of 3 recipes. It was very fun and easier than I had expected. The thought of having to make 60 meals in one day was kind of daunting.
We listened to Lincoln Webster while we worked. Very upbeat and rocky music. Great music to work with. It was fun!
Anyway, when we were done, both the Sleadds and the Deems had enough enough dinner meals for the rest of June.

While we worked, the Deems got quite a few phone calls from people wanting to tell them "White Rabbit!".
"White Rabbit" is a game that is played only on the first day of every month. Kinda like "April fools" You try to tell someone "White Rabbit" before they tell you. It's a fun, friendly game.
So, the Deems usually won. Their phone allows them to see who is calling before they pick it up. If it was someone who plays "White Rabbit", they would pick up and say "White rabbit!". The Emmons called while we were there but we got them before they did. MWAHAHA!!!!

And about the "Mammoth Swing". You may or may not have heard of my brother's home business- "Sleaddventures". He sells zip-lines and other adventure gear mainly on eBay. It is fairly small right now but is growing steadily. Nathan is having a friend re-build his Sleaddventures website this summer. Right now we don't have an online shopping cart or anyway for people to order so that is one of the main things that will be changed. Sales should increase by a lot after that and we're expecting to be pretty busy.
Currently, I've been working for Nathan; packaging zip-lines and so forth, and he advised me to come up with another backyard adventure kit that can be sold along with zip-lines. So my idea was giant-swing kits that go in between 2 trees. I tried out the design on our own yard and finished it yesterday. It was a little scary putting it up though because it was so high. 20 feet.
Next, I need to come up with an instruction manual to sell along with the kit. Then, if the Lord wills, I can start selling it on eBay as a Sleaddventures product.
Here is the swing.

The Goldmans actually just stopped by a few minutes ago and we gave them all rides on the zip-line and swing. It was really fun!

I'll post some more pictures of the swing later.

Oh, and by the way, our church is having a BBQ right after the service tomorrow and you're invited! Coram Deo Church meets at Lincoln Elementary School at 11:00am. If you come, bring along some meat to barbecue. If you have more questions email me at aaronsleadd@gmail.com.
Hope to see you there!

-Aaron

News

Hey everyone!
We (my family and I) spent the whole afternoon and evening cooking! That's right. It was at the Deems for the "Once a month cooking day".

It is also "White rabbit" day.

Nathan and I just finished another business scheme that will possibly benefit our/Nathan's Sleaddventures home business. "The Mammoth Swing".


You probably have some questions about "White Rabbit" and so forth, but I have to go to bed now, so you'll just have to wait until tomorrow to read all about it!

God Bless!
-Aaron