SkaterAid

SkaterAid: Story
Ian Wochatz
SkaterAid was started in 2005 to celebrate the life of Ian Wochatz. A Decatur teen and avid skateboarder, Ian was diagnosed with an especially virulent type of brain cancer, and died on July 4, 2005 at age 15. SkaterAid provided a place for all those who loved Ian to honor his memory in a way he would have approved of...with music, friends and skateboarding.

SkaterAid's mission is to support families who are dealing with the tragedy of pediatric cancer. The first year, the proceeds of SkaterAid went to Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta. In 2006, funds were channelled to the RET Foundation in honor of RET Thomas. In 2007 and 2008, all proceeds will go the Brain Tumor Foundation for Children. To donate to any of these worthy causes, please go to our Links page.

Ultimately, SkaterAid is a place for teens to celebrate their youth. Whether flying through the air on a board, playing music, or hanging out with friends, you're only 15 once in your life, so....skate on. And shred for Ian.

Please pray...

Please pray for some of our family members as they embark on some new missionary adventures. Here is a passage from a recent newsletter about what is happening with them:
We watch the news of
the AIG Bailout from a small Ma-
nila Guest House. It only further
highlighted the uncertainties of
this world.
Last month, a militant religious
group were demanding their
rights to assume control of land
in Palawan. Balabac was one of
those they named as belonging
to them. Government officials
stopped by our village home and
warned of possible danger. Naval
ships patrolled the coast. We al-
ready had plans to do paper work
in Manila during September so
as soon as we finished our final
lessons in Acts we hopped in the
plane and flew out as planned.
Since then there has been more
reports of heightened tension on
Palawan and on our tiny island.
It would appear from an earthly
perspective that this may take
some time to resolve.
So here we sit. In a small room in
Manila watching the economic
woes of a reckless world, while
our own ministry plans seemed
to have been put on hold. Odd
as it may seem, we are
filled with anticipation and are
looking for all of God’s open
doors.
1.) The MP3 Ministry that was
only just a tiny thought a few
weeks ago, now seems exactly
what God had in mind for us to
do to get his newly translated
Word to the Molbog people.
2.) We will use this
time to visit Indonesia. Rather
than sit in Manila and wait, we
can encourage our kids in this
new fantastic “first step” they
are about to take. We are
thrilled to be a part of it with
them. Open doors abound so
we will keep our eyes open.

Flying Sparrow Joplin Wrap

This particular Joplin Wrap is made with turquoise color matte finish seed beads. To accent those I've added shell heishi beads.

The Joplin Wrap has infinite possibilities. It can be worn long, short or even as a chunky bracelet. You can wrap it around your neck 4-5 times depending on how long you need it, or wrap it around your wrist about 12 times. Then adjust the different strands to make it fit the way you want.

The Joplin Wrap has made jewelry a little “greener” by using less, if not any, precious metals by eliminating the clasping mechanism.

This item has been Sold.

scrumptious

This Joplin Wrap is one of my favorite all time wraps. It is made with lilac color matte finish seed beads. To accent those I've added Garnet heishi beads surrounded by hand cut Jade beads.

The Joplin Wrap has infinite possibilities. It can be worn long, short or even as a chunky bracelet. You can wrap it around your neck 4-5 times depending on how long you need it, or wrap it around your wrist about 12 times. Then adjust the different strands to make it fit the way you want.

The Joplin Wrap has made jewelry a little “greener” by using less, if not any, precious metals by eliminating the clasping mechanism.

Business Gopher by Moonrover

I saw this on Moonrover's Flickr:
This drawing is an excerpt from a letter I wrote to a friend.

I was driving down Central Ave. early one morning and saw a gopher sitting with his feet dangling in a gutter opening on the edge of the street, with his front paws resting on the curb. It was like he was sitting at a little desk. Of course, I was in the car by myself and wasn’t able to share this first hand with anyone. It was just so darn cute, this little gopher at his gutter desk; I had to share him with you.

interesting...

The Garnet group of minerals show crystals with a habit of rhombic dodecahedrons and trapezohedrons. They are nesosilicates with the same general formula, A3B2(SiO4)3. The chemical elements in garnet include calcium, magnesium, aluminium, iron2+, iron3+, chromium, manganese, and titanium. Garnets show no cleavage and a dodecahedral parting. Fracture is conchoidal to uneven; some varieties are very tough and are valuable for abrasive purposes. Hardness is 6.5 - 7.5, specific gravity is 3.1 - 4.3, luster is vitreous to resinous, and they can be transparent to opaque.

The name "garnet" comes from the Latin granatus, a grain possibly in reference to malum garanatum (pomegranate) a plant with red seeds similar in shape, size and color to some garnet crystals.

There is a misconception that garnets are only a red gem but in fact they come in a variety of colors including purple, red, orange, yellow, green, brown, black, or colorless. The lack of a blue garnet was remedied in 1990's following the discovery of color-change blue to red/pink material in Bekily, Madagascar but these stones are very rare. Color-change garnets are by far the rarest garnets except uvarovite, which does not come in cuttable sizes. In daylight, their color can be shades of green, beige, brown, gray and rarely blue, to a reddish or purplish/pink color in incandescent light. By composition, these garnets are a mix of spessartine and pyrope, as are Malaya garnets. The color change of these new garnets is often more intense and more dramatic than the color change of top quality Alexandrite which is frequently disappointing, but still sells for many thousands of dollars (US) per carat. It is expected that blue color-change garnets will match Alexandrite prices or even exceed them as the color change is often better and these garnets are much rarer. The blue color-change type is mainly caused by relatively high amounts of vanadium (about 1 wt.% V2O3).

Six common varieties of garnet are recognized based on their chemical composition. They are pyrope, almandine or carbuncle, spessartite, grossularite (varieties of which are hessonite or cinnamon-stone and tsavorite), uvarovite and andradite. The garnets make up two solid solution series; 1. pyrope-almandine-spessarite and 2. uvarovite-grossularite-andradite.

Garnet is the birthstone for January, and has been used since the Bronze Age.