this was the translation he gave me - at least i can tell anyone who asks what it means now


The large character in the red circle
The calligraphy of this character is a little unusual. Usually characters in good Chinese calligraphy are supposed to fit inside a square. I looked through the different databases because the character was hard to find. The closes I could come up with was:
有, yǒu, to have, to possess (complex pictograph of a right hand grasping the abundance of the moon)

The white characters inside the circle
土, tǔ, earth, soil (pictograph of an object rising through the earth)
水, shuǐ, water, river (pictograph of streams flowing together)
木, mù, tree, wood (pictograph of a tree)
食, Shí, food, eat (complex pictograph containing the pictographs for gather, rice and spoon)

The red characters in the vertical stamp
The only unusual character was the second one from the top. That character seems to be the pictograph for fire.
木, mù, tree, wood (pictograph of a tree)
火, huǒ, fire (pictograph of rising flames)
水, shuǐ, water, river (pictograph of streams flowing together)
食, Shí, food, eat (complex pictograph containing the pictographs for gather, rice and spoon)