You’ll Never See Me Do This

Filmed in the Makinodromo/El Chorro area Andalucia, Spain, the clip is a first-person view along a century-old trail that hugs the side of steep cliffs

via Roy Osherove and UpgradeTravelBetter

New King James Version for OneNote 2007 Available

In addition to the work I do at GottaBeMobile.com, I also have a side project I’ve headed up from the early days of Tablet PCs  – TabletBible.com, which brings inkable Bible texts, and other popular texts, to the Tablet PC for free.

In partnership with Nelson Bibles, I’m pleased to announce the availability of the New King James Version for OneNote 2007. It is now available for download at TabletBible.com for free.

Each book in the Bible is a separate OneNote section, with each chapter in the book belonging to a page within that section. Using the built-in functionality of OneNote 2007, you can insert your own ink notes, view the Bible text and notes in full screen mode, search your ink and text notes, sync your Bible notes between multiple computers, record the audio of sermons and play it back in time with your notes (with permission of course !), and insert additional pages and sections. The text has been specially formatted to allow plenty of space for marking up and taking ink notes: wide margins, double spacing, and more.

In addition to the NKJV, the English Standard Version for OneNote 2007 is also available.

If you would like to contribute financially to this effort, click here. All donations help offset licensing fees, hosting costs, and the time it takes to produce these texts and keep them up to date with current software versions. I’m currently working on bringing all GoBinder formatted texts current with OneNote 2007.

Classic Line from Our Pastor

I don’t think our pastor, Mark Bates, could have said it any better than he did today (not his exact words, but pretty darn close):

When you just get slammed up one side and down the other, you wonder what in the world God is doing; and the thought enters your mind: Do you think God would have a lot more friends if He treated the ones He had better?

Now that he mentions it, the thought has crossed my my mind a few times

NKJV for OneNote 2007 Coming this Week

I’ve finally gotten off my lazy behind and am about to finish the New King James Version for OneNote 2007. Look for it later this week via TabletBible.com

A Heart Cry

I sat in the pew this morning listening to our Pastor speak on Christ and suffering, and my heart began to cry from deep within my soul. You know, that kind of cry that finally erupts in to visible tears.

The kind of cry that envelopes your entire being

The kind of cry that causes your throat to start shaking

The kind of cry you feel when a friend comes up to you and says they’ve been praying and fasting for you – when you have not even been able to pray yourself.

The kind of cry that begs to come out when yours and a friends eyes meet from across the room, and nothing has to be said.

The kind of cry  that comes from sitting on the porch watching your kids play Frisbee just before darkness falls.

The kind of cry that sits right behind the eyes

The kind of cry you feel when your little girl just wants to sit in your lap and be close

The kind of cry that says I’m tired

The kind of cry that says I’m scared

The kind of cry that says I’m angry

The kind of cry that comes from just holding your wife’s hand

The kind of cry that says “but, I have Hope”

Yeah, it was that kind of cry. It was a Heart Cry.

Where To Begin…

There are days, and then there are days. Yesterday was one of those days.

We met with Maggie’s neurologist yesterday to go over her most recent MRI, and other tests she’s had done. We are still waiting to get results from the MEG test done in St. Louis. Her case is to be presented to the neurology and neurosurgery doctors next week, so we hope to learn some initial results on the MEG then, which we hope will shed some light on the items below.

Here is what Maggie’s neurologist has learned so far, based on the MRI, research, talking with doctors in St. Louis, and the tests in which he has performed / ordered.

• Maggie’s seizures appear to be coming from some scar tissue in the insular cortex. Because it is in the insular cortex, there is next to a zero chance of any surgical intervention. There are too many blood vessels surrounding that area; and, it is just too risky of an area to go in to. In her last surgery in 2005, the doctor stopped just short of placing any sensors around that area because of the high risk. It was believed then that the insular cortex could be at play as well, but there was no way to confirm it then.
• Because Maggie is in now in puberty, hormones are also playing a big role in her seizures occurring stronger and more frequently.
• A volumetrics study was performed on Maggie’s brain, and the doctors found that Maggie has about 30% less grey matter in her brain than other children her age. The grey matter includes regions of the brain involved in muscle control, sensory perceptions, such as seeing and hearing, memory, emotions and speech,  intelligence, and thinking. Maggie’s doctor believes that her brain has atrophied  across both hemispheres as a result of continual seizures likely caused by the original tumor and scar tissue.  What we won’t know until her next MRIs, which will be spread over the next 6 months to a year, is if this is getting progressively worse or if it is relatively static. Read more about brain atrophy and seizures here.

So, Maggie has lost about 30% of the grey matter in her brain, and it is likely being caused by some scar tissue that can’t be removed. We won’t know for at least 6 months to a year if it is getting progressively worse, and at what rate. Because surgical removal of the scar tissue is an unlikely scenario, Maggie is left with only a couple of options at this point:

• Continue to experiment with medicines and make adjustments as necessary
• Make some drastic changes in Maggie’s diet, which has proven to help control seizures, and see what we can do to regulate her hormones
• Begin researching vagal nerve stimulators, which present a whole different set of issues. Maggie’s doctors have mixed opinions on them.
• Keep pushing, pushing, pushing
• Continue praying and seeking God’s Face, while doing one or more of the above to hold back the atrophy, and pray for God to quickly bring about medical advances that can help her.

We hope to learn more after the results of the MEG test are released to us, but that is everything we know right now. As you can imagine, it is very sobering. Maggie has an amazing desire to learn and keep pushing forward. If you were to talk with any of her doctors and therapists, they would tell you that she pushes herself harder than anyone they know. That is a huge reason why she is doing as well as she is given that her brain has atrophied so much. Another huge reason is because she is surrounded by people who love her dearly and continue to pray for her.

2 Corinthians 4: 7 – 10      
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

Rob, Kathi, Dax, Maggie, Anna Kathryn, and Zoe