I Can Only Imagine
Mercy Me

Welcome to my blog, updated whenever something of interest happens in my life (for the most part). Complete with pictures and video, you're sure to have a great time (although I can't promise you that). Anyway, thanks for visiting!

(pictures expandable by clicking)


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Prayer, Caspian, & A Boat Ride
July 28, 2007


I have two prayer requests for two people. The first, Ann Schrader, who a few months ago I shared was diagnosed with a rare type of breast cancer. This is the latest from her husband:

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Ann is getting better with each passing day. She is up and enjoying the grandchildren. She has at least three lymph nodes that have cancer for which we will go back to Chicago for treatment rather soon. Our doctor in Illinois plans to call today and discuss his agenda. Ann needs a petscan to check the nodule on her lung as soon as possible.

Most likely she will also need to have the fluid drained out of her lung and tested for cancer. The skin on her chest where the tumor was removed was clear of any cancer, thus she will not have to undergo any radiation for which we are very thankful. Our church family and several other friends have been supplying meals this past week and this really helped out! We are so grateful for your prayers, calls, letters, gifts and verbal support during this time of testing. God has certainly demonstrated His "HESED" (covenant faithfulness, cf. Ps 23:6, "Surely goodness and mercy (hesed) shall follow ("pursue") me all the days of my life: and I (we, God's children) WILL dwell in the house of the LORD for ever"). He has removed many obstacles with His "heavenly spiritual" bulldozer (Prov 3:6 - "and He will direct (make smooth) our paths") and we certainly have seen His "covenant faithfulness" on a daily basis (Lamentations 3:21-23) which has provided us the daily strength we need and has been our source of joy and praise to Him who has saved us.


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My second prayer request is for my 5th grade teacher. To my surprise, I recently received a message on Facebook from an old classmate, Amy Chen, asking for letters to be written to Mrs. Vermilyea who had just been diagnosed with, I believe, lung cancer. I remember her as a strict, profound and very wonderful teacher (ESTJ - my opposite, which was good for me). This is the reply I received from her the other day.

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Dear Jordan,
I definitely do remember your name and you as a ten year old. You were a smart, friendly, and well-rounded student with a happy disposition. It sounds like you have grown up to be a happy, well adjusted adult secure in your faith. Thank you for your quote of the Proverb of King Solomon. The message is so applicable at this time in my life, and it is really encouraging to me too, since it offers so much hope and comfort. A month before my diagnosis I was happy, feeling healthy and active playing league tennis and working. The diagnosis was such a shock especially since I have never smoked in my life. Luckily, I am still feeling fine after three chemotherapy treatments and have had no side effects except hair loss. I have another six more to go before reevaluating the next course of treatment. The support I have received from family, friends, the tennis community, and the school community has been overwhelming. I am so thankful to live in a beautiful tropical environment near my daughter and my four grandchildren as well as my son. The kind thoughts expressed in mail by you, Amy and Julie Deverich have been truly priceless! It is so amazing to hear from such wonderful young adults who were my former students. Thank you very much for your thoughts and prayers. I've been e-mailing Amy and will continue to keep her updated so you can check with her or you may hear from me again. Mahao and Aloha nui loa.
Mrs. Vermilyea

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That's Mrs. Vermilyea in the red box above (photo's expandable), and you can see me to the left in the red shirt (about 4 people over, second row). It's astonishing and saddening how many people are getting cancer these days. Thank you for your prayer.

Just to let everyone know, I've got 4 free passes for the Creation Museum in Kentucky. They gave them to me free for being a charter member, so if anyone is ever going, drop me a note, and I'll mail them to you. What's cool is that they can be used indefinitely, so just send them back to me when you're done. A regular ticket is like $35.00, so you're getting a deal. See! There are benefits for coming to Jordan Niednagel's blog besides just seeing self-shots!

Lastly, those who know me well know that I'm not a huge movie-buff. I like movies, but I rarely ever buy them, and don't get into all the up-and-coming stuff. Anyway, the next Narnia installment will be released summer of next year, Prince Caspian, and I AM really looking forward to this movie. They're filming it as we speak, and below are a couple paintings of scenes to be filmed and photos taken from the set.


Caspian's Escape.


Caspian and Aslan.


Director Andrew Adamson on set. Hey Nate, you think that camera shoots in 24p? ;-)


Filming the bridge scene. If you're familiar with the book, you'll know what I'm talking about. Look at all those people. So amazing.

Now just a few pictures from the week.


Don't we all look cute. That's my uncle David and aunt Judy on the left. Toody (my grandmother) kindly bought us all these "Silent Witness" t-shirts. The symbols translate ... "He came, He died, He rose, He ascended, He's coming again."


This is one of those photos that gives you a glimpse of what Kalea will look like when she's sixteen.


Time for a pontoon ride.


My almost-94-year-old grandmother sportin' her digital camera.


Kalea makes yet another attempt to dress cooler than her uncle.


lol, poor thing. I finally said, "Hey mom, take that thing off her and I'll make sure she doesn't drown. If she does, you can take my life as forfeit."


Look at the little sissy with the noodles.


Us again.


The best photographs in life are the ones you don't smile for. Intimate love.


And a parting shot of the lake. Looks like Loch Ness.

Thanks for stopping by. Through good times and bad, may we all continue to trust the Lord, relying solely on Him who promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us. Have a great week.


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Departures & Chauffeurs
July 21, 2007


Well, life is now back to normal, for the most part. Nathan flew out Tuesday morning and we had a few great last days together. My grandmother comes in this evening to spend half a week with us, and then my aunt and uncle from Indiana will be arriving on Monday for a couple days. We'll probably go on the boat and a few fun things like that.

So with that said, here are some pics from the week. But first ...



Showing just what it takes to remake a classic ...


On Monday we were off to Springfield to spend the day and night (his flight was to leave Tuesday morning at 6:30). One thing Nathan and I get to do when together is partake of Chinese food (which makes it about twice a year). So, being the final day, and throwing all caution to the wind, we had at it.


I didn't come to your dumb blog to see you guys picking from a buffet. Yeah, well too bad. You just did.


Hark! Tis the man Courville! He kindly joined us for some bowling that afternoon.


Stand side, jon and nate. I was using these types of computers back when you guys were still in diapers.


Some bowling action. Jon won 3 out of the 4 games, while Nathan claimed the other. Talk about a humbling experience. I was horrendously appalling. One game I didn't even break 100! I don't want to talk about it.


Thanks, Nate, for putting this together.


Tis a hot day, so let us stop and partake of Brahms. The good thing about their ice-cream is that it comes from Arkansas cows which supposedly aren't given hormones and all that jazz. I don't know, though. Jon's lookin' a little toxic.


Thank you, Voellers, for letting us use your house for the night (they were gone on a trip)! Also had a blast using the community tennis courts and swimming pool (which we swam in till about 9:45). Man, there almost isn't anything better than swimming in a lighted pool on a warm evening ... then coming out and walking home barefoot with a gentle breeze gracing your damp hair ... I'm getting a little fruity here. Sorry.


6:00am, as I drive Nathan to the airport. lol, I haven't really told you this yet, mom, but we woke up a little late. Our alarms were supposed to go off around 5am, but for some reason they didn't go off or we didn't hear them. So, around 5:45 I woke up to the sound of a car driving by, and casually looked at my watch. Then, as Nathan will firmly attest to, I suddenly became Batman. Being on the top bunk, I leapt from above Nathan onto the floor, landing in a crouched position, staring straight at him. lol, I vividly remember him waking up RIGHT away, looking at me, and then saying, "Whoa!" But there was no time for showing off. "Dude," I said. "It's 5:44." Nathan looked at me with horror. "Are you sure?" he asked. "Look at your watch," I replied in a cool, Batman like voice (ok I'm exaggerating here but just enjoy it). His watch read the same. Let's just say we scrambled like there was no tomorrow, arriving at the airport at around 6:10 (his flight left at 6:40, so it wasn't too bad). Anyway, to make a long story short, there was yet ANOTHER complication with his ticket, and they switched him to a flight leaving at about 11:30. So in the end, all that stress was for nothing. Great. Anyway, so ...


... we went to Cracker Barrel! Good food, good conversation, and the Lord blessed our remaining time together.


After Nathan's departure it was time to run some errands. I don't exaggerate when I say that my cell phone must have rang 30-40 times that day ... dad, mom, or Jeremy calling and asking me to get something. One of those things was this monster ... a utility sink Jer wanted for outside his house. After I had already bought one, he called up and said, "Actually, I'd like the double-sink version." So I had to carry it back and get the even bigger one and load it in the car ... which, as you can see, wasn't easy. lol, you'll see that my face shows some amount pain. You know sometimes when you reach for something, or turn your neck a certain way, and you pull that muscle that lines the side of your neck and connects to your shoulder? As I was putting on a fake painful face, that's exactly what happened, so the pain you see is actually 80% real. I was also in a hurry cause I had placed the camera on another person's car and didn't want them to come out and ... you know ... see a camera on top of their car.


It had been awhile, so on Wednesday we played a round of golf together as a family. Here we see Jeremy and dad. I call this one, "Two Ts Between Two Trees."


Kalea Steele.


On Thursday it was time for me to do my every-other-month good deed and chauffeur mom and one of her friends around town (this time Julie). Here we are at Chili's for lunch. "Hey, why don't you two waiters who I've never met and whose names I don't even know get in the picture to make my blog more interesting!"


We stopped by the Schrader's to say hello. This is Lily, Marcus and Jen's youngest (as of now - Jen is expecting any day now). She is so cute.


Yep. Chauffeuring for the day means lots of reading for the day as the ladies shop various uninteresting stores. I'm rereading a book I read when I was about 15 that had a huge impact on me ... the life of Robert E. Lee. Whether a northerner or a southerner, all respected and to this very day still highly respect the man Robert Lee. That speaks volumes. Perhaps my favorite quote of his is ... "You cannot be a true man until you learn to obey." This has been an encouraging admonition to me lately.


And lastly, check out this flower. We have wild passion fruits that grow in our yard every year, and this is the flower they come from. They're so unbelievably intricate it's amazing.

All right. Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week.


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The Final ... Final Week
July 14, 2007


Well, evidentially Nathan's ticket was for this NEXT Tuesday, and not last Tuesday like he thought. Some kind of mix up with Orbitz or something. So, we were blessed with yet another stimulating week ... and oh how stimulating it was. You know, having been around each other for so long now, I think we've starting losing our minds. Below is evidence to prove it.



Click at your own risk. Whatever the case, let's just say we had a blast making this. We actually did it in just a couple hours, and editing only took a couple more. Have to say that this is the least stressful type of filmmaking, and definitely the most fun! Ironically, for you Brain Type enthusiasts, the men singing are our respective Brain Types (INFP and ENTP - Richard Chamberlain being the INFP, the only one we know of who ever made it big in Hollywood).

Anyway, now just a few pictures from the week.


What should we do with our remaining time? I know! ...


Cookies! Pathetic, I know, but the food was tasty.


Nathan gave us a nice firework show a few days after the 4th.


It's lit ... RUN!!!


Engaging in a friendly game of Scrabble.


And how bout one more time in the pond for old time's sake? Nathan's brave to bring his camera out in the pond. Sadly, he lost a good pair of sunglasses. Sorry, man.


The weather this week has been really nice (low 80s), so we had dinner on the porch.


This little white monkey tried to get away from me when it was time to come in.


And one last sneak peak from our trailer. Praise the Lord, we got it done. Now Nathan has a couple weeks to edit it and send it in.

What a roller coaster of a month. Again, thanks for coming, Nate! And all of you, as always, thanks for stopping by. Hope our little skit didn't give you too much of a stomach ache. :-)






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