In this post, I mentioned that two other local game stores were out of business. I was incorrect. The Game Room in Washington moved from its old location to a new venue on the square in Washington. I don’t know what this does for parking, but it seems that this would be a more visible location. I do hope that they curb the smoking, though, or I fear that business will suffer.

So, good for the Game Room, and my apologies for the incorrect information.

God is merciful. Arianna opened her eyes on Friday and is seeing fine. We’re still using the eye drops to make sure that she stays clear of infection, but she seems to be doing fine.

As a result, we were able to play our postponed game of Blue Moon City, wherein I came in dead last of four players. Indeed, Arianna nearly won. So, she is definitely much better than before.

Actually, I originally received this letter (with the actual names) personally, but, since Jo…er, Fritz decided to post it, I figure that I can share with all of you.

As reported here, my daughter was seriously poked in the eye on Wednesday. Since she was not recovering, Crystal took her to the doctor, who explained the seriousness of the injury. For the first time, someone used the b-word: “blind”. Now, this was in the context of “probably not going to be blind, unless she gets an infection”. But still, the possibility of having a daughter who is blind in one eye rose up and smacked me in the face.

My daughter has always seemed to have eye problems. She got her first pair of glasses when she was only two (or so). That hurt me a lot. Already, my baby girl was suffering with health problems.

And this is worse. Arianna hasn’t been able to open her eye, because it hurts. Thankfully, the doctor prescribed some pain medication, which helps, but Arianna has been spending most of the last couple of days with her eyes closed. For all practical purposes, she is blind.

So, for the last couple of days, we have been caring for a blind child. It’s not easy. Arianna is used to being able to see, so she wants to be able to read, roam the house, eat food, and generally do those things that she is used to being able to do. But she can’t. She was trying to wander around in our friends’ backyard and apparently walked into something, hurting her lip. She tries to eat, but it’s hard to use a fork effectively when you can’t see your food. She wants to be able to read her books, but she can’t. She wanted to play my new game with me, but she can’t see to be able to play.

And so, instead, I’ve been guiding her around or, sometimes, carrying her from place to place. Last night at dinner, I fed her soup. Both Crystal and I have been reading to her, trying to help fill that void as well.

I can tell that she feels lonely. She has been talking a lot more than normal, and she wants to be held a lot. And, honestly, I don’t blame her. If I were in her shoes, I’d feel lonely, too.

Often, as Arianna tries to get around the house, she runs into things. Even so, when I take her by the hand to guide her, she still tries to guide herself, moving independently. Several times, I’ve had to stop her and say, “Don’t try to do it yourself. Just let me guide you. I can see where you are going, and I will keep you from getting hurt.” Then she relaxes, and I guide her to where she needs to go.

And that’s what God does for His children, isn’t it? Recently, I’ve found myself wrestling with different decisions, flailing around in the dark, uncertain of what I should be doing. And then God bends down to me, His blind child, and says, “Don’t try to do it yourself. Just let me guide you. I can see where you are going, and I will keep you from getting hurt.”

Maybe I should listen to Him.

Tale the Twenty-first

Sniff. I remember reading her Pickman’s Model when she was just a little thing, and now she’s all grown up….

This Friday is our monthly Game Night. Contact me if you are interested in coming.

We will be having White Horse Inn on May 16, at 8:00 p.m. at Rhodell’s. The topic is “Why I Hate Christianity and Think You Should, Too”. Yes, this is a Christian discussion group. Hope to see you there.

Mother’s Day at Flogging Fritz

(Thanks to Peter Leithart for posting about this.)

I laughed when I saw the name of this document, and then I signed it. If you are Reformed, I urge you to read and consider this document.

Presbyterians and Presbyterians Together

I was hanging out in a bar! No, really. Check this out.

On the one hand, most of my bar prejudices were confirmed. I’m not one for cigarette smoke, and things were just a bit too loud to be able to hear all the conversation. At the same time, I enjoyed being able to meet folks face-to-face with whom I would otherwise only interact online. I’d also be interested in trying out the game that was at Whitey’s. I know that it’s not called shuffleboard, but it was something like that.

I also appreciated the opportunity to learn more about Peoria. Having only lived here a few years, I’m not very familiar with the local landscape. After last night, I feel like I have a better idea of how the city functions.

Oddly enough, it reminds me a lot of Erie. Small-to-midsized city, heavy industrial base, small local politics scene. Everyone knows everyone, and everyone is sure that a scandal is under every rock. And who knows? Maybe they’re right.

Still, none of this changes my basic assessment of Peoria: Peoria needs Jesus. That’s why I’m working to move my family deeper into the city. That’s why I’m willing to risk the drug dealers and the criminals. Because Peoria will not become a better, cleaner, safer, happier place until it finds Jesus. And, since Jesus found me, I want Peoria to find Him, too.

I found myself watching a portion of the House of Commons from C-SPAN. This link should open in RealPlayer (my apologies). If not, copy and paste it into RealPlayer.

No particular issues here, you understand, but I thought that this made Congress or even our local City Council like a bunch of stuffed shirts. Boggles my mind how government business can be done this way.

While I’m honored (I guess) with all the spam comments that are coming my way, I’m starting to get tired of it. So, I’m turning on the “if this is your first comment then it’s moderated” feature. If you are real (and not a cabbage or something), then I will release your comment into the wild, and, hopefully, you won’t be bothered by this moderation thing anymore.

I was told that it’s possible to schedule blog posts to show up. So, I’m actually writing this at 10:34 p.m. on Tuesday, May 2. But, I’m scheduling it to appear….now!

Did it work?

Once upon a time, I lived in a place called Erie, PA. In this fabled land, I owned a home, and in the back yard of this home, I had a little back yard retreat.

The back yard at this house was narrow but fairly deep, and, situated at the back of the yard, was a large tree. I think that it was a willow, although I’m not sure. What I do remember is that the branches swept down from the tree, forming a canopy over the back yard. As you would walk out towards the tree, it felt like you were entering another room in the house. You stepped under the canopy of leaves and gazed upwards at the living rafters that stretched overhead. We strung white lights in the limbs of this tree and hung wind chimes in the tree. Beneath them we placed a picnic table and a small patio area. And then, for my birthday, I was given a pond and waterfall.

I loved sitting outside, under the tree, listening to the sound of the wind blowing in the trees and the babbling of the waterfall.

But then, we moved. The pond was too big to take with us. As it was, we barely fit our possessions into the moving truck. So, we drove away from my special backyard retreat.

Now, to the present. My family is in the middle of trying to purchase a house in the University North neighborhood. I hate real estate transactions. They make me nervous and uncomfortable. Thankfully, I have a friend who is knowledgeable and skilled in this area, so we went to his house to seek his advice. While we were there, his wife asked me what I thought of the house that we are considering.

In that moment, I was enlightened.

I realized that I wasn’t really thinking about this house as being a special place. It was a tool, nothing more. I have a lot of children, and they all need to sleep somewhere. This house was a means to that end.

And yet, I thought about my special backyard retreat. I realized that I really wanted to be able to have that back again. For me, that had been my special place, and it was lost to me.

We haven’t made much more progress on the house. I don’t know what will happen with that.

But I do know this.

A few days ago, I came home and discovered a surprise on my front porch. My wife had scrounged various materials and set up a little pond on our porch. In particular, she had found our old pond pump and had set up a little waterfall into the pond. She knew that I was missing my special place, and she made me a new one.

So now, at night, we go outside and sit on our front porch. We light candles and fight off the bugs. But, most importantly, we enjoy being together in my special place.

Another in a series of short articles about local businesses.

As you have probably guessed by now, if you don’t already know me, I am very involved with hobby gaming. This includes both roleplaying games and board games. Indeed, as I’ve noted elsewhere, I run a monthly Game Night for my church, which is just one extension of my love for games.

However, these games can be somewhat hard to find. Often I have to go to specialty stores to find the games that I’m looking for. And, until recently, I was quite unhappy with the quality of the game stores in the area. The one was owned by a compulsive smoker, which didn’t improve the shopping experience at all. The other was in someone’s basement, which is a little too weird, even for me. And now, as far as I can tell, neither are still in business.

Perhaps Just For Fun Games is a part of the reason for this. Located at the intersection of Sheridan and Lake, this store has already surpassed the other competitors in the area.

First, they have a lit sign set up at the street intersection. This is how my wife and I discovered the store. This alone demonstrates some business savvy.

Second, the store itself is clean, well-lighted, smoke free, and family-friendly. I’ve been to enough game stores to know that this is an exception to the rule. I particularly appreciate that there are no cheesecake posters on the wall.

Third, they have a broad stock of games, well-displayed. Rather than trying to cram as many games onto a shelf as possible, they have most of their games arranged so that the box front faces outward. As a result, a browsing customer can walk down the aisles of the store and easily see what games are available.

Fourth, the staff is friendly. Of course, the staff is really just the owner and his wife, but they are both working on being helpful and knowledgeable about the games that they are selling. When I go into a small store of any kind, I’m hoping to find that the owner is an expert in his area who can assist me in making a purchasing decision. This is certainly true at Just For Fun Games.

I’m vaguely disappointed that, as of yet, Just For Fun does not have a website. Otherwise I’d be linking to them now. As it is, here is a Google Maps link that shows their location.

A quality game store is a rare find, and I’m pleased to say that Peoria finally has one. If you are at all interested in hobby gaming, please support Just For Fun Games.