Generosity Encouraged

Stair rail in progress

2009-10-15T12:25:00.000-04:00

Joshua Harber

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

Island Countertop Installed

2009-10-15T12:24:00.000-04:00

Joshua Harber
-- Sent from my Palm Prē

The Drywall is up!

2009-09-24T19:54:00.000-04:00

It is amazing how quickly the drywall goes up! These show Nathans new room, the archway leading to the new kitchen, and the new future master bedroom.

Siding finished

2009-09-24T19:03:00.000-04:00

New photos of the North and South sides of the house. Notice Nathans new window in the "old" part of the South side.

Speechless, with a Thousand Praises

2009-09-02T13:20:00.000-04:00

Truly, no words I here type can add or detract from the joy of knowing and parenting these three. Today was Day 2 at Playalinda Beach, a place I'll never forget.

Signed,
Father to Nathan, Laurel and Elise

Playalinda Beach Day

2009-09-01T09:27:00.000-04:00

We spent 6+ hours at a truly pristine, beautiful National Seashore beach, called Playalinda.

It is adjacent to where the shuttle launches. We set up a huge screen pavillion and stayed all day.

Baby Laurel loves the water. Nathan spends 90% of his time chucking fistful of sand. Elise likes to jump over the surf.

Joshua Harber

Windows installed

2009-08-20T13:25:00.000-04:00

Tincaps Night

2009-08-18T21:11:00.000-04:00

Big Brother

2009-08-13T11:14:00.000-04:00

With all the talk of Orwellian suspiscion, I thought I'd remind everyone of what a good, benevolent and loving Big Brother looks like.

»» Sent from my Palm Pre

Sisters

2009-08-13T11:08:00.000-04:00

I don't have much to say that can add to this. I love these girls!

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Doll Baby Laurel

2009-08-12T17:38:00.000-04:00

As a bonus for you family members coming to www.joshuaharber.com to see updates on the house construction, I'm throwing in a photo taken today of 10 month old Laurel. She is too cute.

Scroll down for phots from today of the house...

»» Sent from my Palm Pre

Good Light

2009-08-12T17:27:00.000-04:00

This photo is taken from the front door, looking upward and due west. Today they cut into the existing roof and attached the new ridge to the existing joists.

Standing from this vantage point, looking up, Becky commented "It lets in a lot of good light." True, but I think we'll go ahead let them affix the rest of the sheathing.

»» Sent from my Palm Pre

Dining Area

2009-08-12T17:04:00.000-04:00

This picture is from under stairs, looking southwest. In the middle of this frame you see where the existing house ends (left) and new 8' bump out begins (right).

»» sent from my Palm Pre

Kitchen Gutted

2009-07-31T22:11:00.001-04:00

If you have ever been in our home, you'll notice some changes in this pic. It is the (former) kitchen, as viewed from the living room.

JH

"Cave Monsters"

2009-07-11T15:54:00.001-04:00

Nathan (age 6) and Elise (age 4) pretend to be cave monsters as they march around the freshly-dug trenches before concrete was poured in to establish footers.

Groundbreaking

2009-07-09T23:07:00.000-04:00

Photo of the footers being dug

Facebook Notes Blog Import

2009-02-17T17:01:00.001-05:00

Testing...

This is a test, this only a test.

Encouraging Generosity,

Joshua

Bible Verses - Our Giving; God's Agenda

2009-02-16T21:42:00.001-05:00

Our Giving Must Reflect God’s Agenda*

Proverbs 19:17 — “He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.”
Luke 19:8 — “But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.’ ”
Acts 10:2-4 — “[Cornelius] and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, ‘Cornelius!’ Cornelius stared at him in fear. ‘What is it, Lord?’ he asked. The angel answered, ‘Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God ...’ ”
Galatians 2:9-10 — “James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.”
James 1:27 — “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
Matthew 25:34-40 — “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ ”
Luke 8:1-3 — “After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who ... were helping to support them out of their own means.”
1 Corinthians 9:14 — “In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.”
Philippians 4:15-17 — “Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need. Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account.”
Romans 12:13 — “Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”

* The above was originally listed on GenerousGiving.org. (I think this list follows the outline traced through my favorite little book on giving.) All verse are NIV, copyrighted by IBS, used by permission of Zondervan.

Shed Dormer - Passive Solar Overhang for Summer Shade and Winter Sunlight

2009-02-14T16:02:00.002-05:00

While working with an architect on the design of a home addition, we decided on a south-facing shed dormer for the second story. Given the shed style, I mentioned I wanted the overhang of the roof to let winter sun in, but shade out most of the summer sun.

Because I'm a fairly hands-on guy, and my architect (great guy) had not designed such a thing before, I went online and found the following helpful bits of info. But it took a lot longer to find it all, so I thought I would post it here for you, my loyal and devoted readers:

With the equation to the right, you should have most of what you need to calculate how much overhang you need. Two of the variables ("S" and "W") require you to know where you are going to build. If you don't know that, then you need more help than I can give.

Go here to calculate S and W. If I'm thinking correctly, the two dates you need to use are the Summer and Winter Solstices, June 21 and December 21, for S and W respectively.

Grand Rapids 3

2007-10-28T09:27:00.000-04:00

During this trip to Grand Rapids, while the kids stayed at Khardomah, I spent the days with Wycliffe supporters. But on the last day before we left town, I took the kids down to the beach for about an hour. One of my favorite things to do is sit on a beach and watch kids explore the appointed edge of two colliding environments.

Wordless Book

2007-11-10T11:16:00.001-05:00

I think one of the best illustrations of the glorious truth of the Good News of Jesus Christ is the Wordless Book. More info.

My son, age 4, just sat in for a CEF seminar for preschoolers where the Wordless Book was presented. When I asked him what he liked best about the seminar, he said "Getting the play-dough." Well, that's honest. But then I asked: "But what part of what the lady said during the special class did you like best?"

"Well, its about this baby's name called Moses. And Pharaoh's daughter came to the baby and she didn't kill that baby but I think Pharaoh was the one killing the babies so the princess didn't... But my favorite color in the Wordless Book is green."

Why? (I asked...)

"Because I just like it daddy. I like all the colors in thew world."

What does the green color in the Wordless book, mean?

"It means your growing."

How does someone grow?

"If they don't be a sinner."

And how does somebody not be a sinner?

"If they trust God."

How does someone Trust God?

"I don't know daaaaddyyy... look at my play dough, I'm rolling the little container on the floor but the play dough is still in it."

Okay, so he might not have yet had the full glory of the Gospel revealed to his little mind. But his daddy is soooo glad that he is learning the truth, growing in grace and wisdom. And I'm thankful for the wordless book.

You'll see more about making wordless bracelets on posts next week as I and a group travel to Cambodia to give a spiritual retreat to staff with the Cambodia branch of World Relief, including a VBS-style program for the kids.

Cambodia Retreat - Trip Intro

2007-11-10T17:24:00.001-05:00

On Saturday 11/17/07, I and a team of nine others will depart the good 'ole U.S. of A and head to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The Team will provide a Retreat for the leadership of World Relief-Cambodia. The Retreat will be an opportunity for us to encourage their faith and have a load of fun and games. Here thus begin a series of posts related to this trip.

You, the reader, will find here at least daily prayer requests, updates, photos and even brief video clips. You will also enter in to the humble author's first experience with a lot of this technology. So alongside the ministry event, will be my comments about trying to capture and share the experience with you with the aid of technology.

Girl In Cambodian Garbage Dump

2007-11-15T15:33:00.001-05:00

One of the most memorable things I saw during my 2006 trip to Cambodia were the little communities of people who live in the main city's garbage dump.

Abject poverty meets a thin ray of industry as people live literally on top of the garbage, in order to be best-positioned in the competition to salvage plastic and glass for re-sale.

Their will to survive was incredible... Lovely children with eyes full of the same innocence and hope one finds wherever you are, was more punctuated on the children we saw there because of the black, sticky funk which covered their hands and feet and was smeared here and there all across their faces and backs.

We're on our way...

2007-11-17T14:43:00.001-05:00

Everyone is on a 747 to Tokyo from Minneapolis. We are all well. This post delived via handheld device.

Almost there...

2007-11-18T15:47:00.000-05:00

We made it... almost. As of now we are sitting in the Bangkok, Thailand airport terminal. A 12-hour flight from Minneapolis to Tokyo, and a 6-hour flight from Tokyo to Bangkok are both behind us. So we have a several-hour layover here in Bangkok.

All are well. We ate Thai and Japanese food in the airport, then capped it off with Starbucks. Amazing. A grande-triple-peppermint-latte tastes exactly the same here as back home and, I assume, everywhere else in the world that Starbucks has a stake in the ground.

Here's a photo of Greg Enas, his son Doug and the (in)famous Dennis Couts posing in front of a set of exterior doors.