tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67071739886389453512023-11-16T14:05:34.217-05:00Abundant LifeThis blog is an attempt at composing thoughts, ideas, and zany things that happen in the abundant life with which God has blessed me.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-60252511722513097312011-09-03T08:17:00.001-04:002011-09-03T08:27:05.379-04:00Society's Moral Spiral<div class="ennote" style="font-family: Times; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: medium; "><p style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; text-align: -webkit-auto; ">Okay, pardon me while I preach to some parents. This has built over the course of my child raising years, so it may sound a bit harsh, but I need to get it off of my chest.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; text-align: -webkit-auto; ">Since when did it become okay to set the bar for our kids' moral behavior to be no higher than our own bad decisions at their age? I cannot tell you how many times over the years that I have heard parents say something like, "well I can't very well tell my kids they shouldn't do that when I did my share of it". Really? Your standard for your kids can't be any higher than your own bad decisions when you were their age?</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; text-align: -webkit-auto; ">We don't do this with anything else. I've never heard a parent say, I was not good at sports when I was a kid, so I can't encourage my kid to try out. I didn't get a scholarship when I went to college so why should I expect my kids to apply. It only seems to be an issue when it comes to moral decision making. I've heard statements like this concerning underage drinking, drug use, sex, and just basic disruptive behavior. Parents actually believe they can't instruct their kids not to do things that are illegal, dangerous, and immoral because they themselves were guilty of those things at some point, too.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; text-align: -webkit-auto; ">Just because we survived some of our bad decisions, or we "turned out okay", doesn't mean those were good decisions, and more importantly, it should NEVER be where we look when determining and communicating expected behavior from our kids. I've heard some say it would be hypocritical to tell your kids they shouldn't, when you did. But that is only true if you still think the illegal, dangerous, immoral behavior was a good decision. If that is the case, then you have other issues. But if you believe it to be a bad decision, it is certainly not hypocritical to instruct your kids to avoid that type of behavior and similar decisions. Your kids may make the same bad decisions, but as a parent you should not let it happen because they didn't know better. </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; text-align: -webkit-auto; ">One other, sort of mathematical, note on this. If everyone believed and practiced this, then society would find itself in a spiral toward becoming a totally immoral society, with the next generations' moral standards lower than those of the previous generation. Some may say that is where we are now, but I do know quite a few parents who aren't afraid to set the standard for their kids behavior to be higher than what they themselves were able to achieve, and for that I am grateful. </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; text-align: -webkit-auto; "> </p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-67979118018163427042011-08-09T14:06:00.002-04:002011-08-09T14:13:10.773-04:00Follow 2011This past weekend our church, Elevation Church in Charlotte, had an incredible weekend. I was blessed to be a part of this. Words cannot express what it felt like to be a involved in such a movement of God. But this is a blog, so I will blog a few of my experiences. If the first couple of paragraphs of set up get too boring for you, just make sure you don’t miss paragraphs 5, 8,9,10, and the video link at the bottom, for the highlights.
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<br />My weekend began on Saturday morning when Teal and I went to the Blakeney campus to help set up for the weekend. Pastor Furtick was going to make an “altar call” for anyone who needed and wanted to be baptized, and my family had volunteered to assist. I was assigned to the men’s wet changing area; not a catchy name, but we assisted the men who had just been baptized change back into dry clothes. More importantly, we were there to celebrate with them as they began their new life in Christ! As a team, the wet changing area met together and prayed for the upcoming events of the weekend and the potential lives that would be forever changed. We discussed logistics and made plans, so that things would go as smoothly as possible.
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<br />Later, the entire campus did a walk-through so that each area would be able to better anticipate any issues that may come up. This is just an example of how the staff works to prevent any possible distractions that might hinder someone from experiencing God. Teal was one of the sample baptizees (my made up word), there were about 6 of them. During the middle of the run-through, the associate campus Pastor, Nick Dooley, stopped the entire process down and announced that the young man doing this run-through was actually not a run-through. He had given his life to Christ and was following Him in baptism. We all gathered around closely and had a huge celebration with him as he came up out of the water. I knew this weekend was going to be incredible!
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<br />Saturday afternoon Tate and I showed up at about 3:00 for the 5:00 pm Worship Experience. Teal and Tina were volunteering at the Matthews campus (wouldn’t want you to think they were heathens or anything). We helped the team make sure everything was set up in the wet changing area, and anywhere else we could find that we were needed. At about 4:00, I left and went inside the auditorium to begin my prayer team “duties”. I love doing this.
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<br />Skip ahead to the Worship Experience. Pastor Furtick is speaking and I’m in the VIP room praying. During this time I pray for the volunteers, staff, the people attending, and mostly intervening for Pastor Furtick as he speaks, that God will speak directly through him. Anyway, as I’m praying, I hear thunder. Uh-oh. I momentarily switch my prayers to weather, in my mind, rain would not be good. I picture the rest of the team outside scrambling to move bags, towels, etc. into the tent. Pray, Tim, pray. I begin my interceceding prayer again. More thunder, more weather prayer. Back to interceding. I hear a little rain, back to weather. Then, very clearly, in a still small voice which seemed so much louder than any thunder, God speaks to me, and if I may take the liberty of paraphrasing God, He says, “Shut up about the weather already, I got this!” Wow. God proceeded to take a moment to make it clear to me that he wanted a few extra minutes to convict some folks in the auditorium, and Pastor Furtick was going to stretch his sermon a bit.
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<br />So it was back to interceding. During the next 30 minutes or so, the bottom fell out of the sky outside. I mean hard, cats and dogs, buckets, all the other expressions for raining hard that I can’t think of right now. But I had no trouble focusing on my praying anymore, I was actually celebrating the rain and praying for the hearts and souls of those being convicted. As I heard Pastor winding down his message and delivering the invitation, I went outside to join the others in the wet changing area. It was still drizzling, most everyone was drenched, but the bags and towels were still dry.
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<br />We could hear Pastor deliver the invitation for those who wanted to be baptized to make their way outside. The rain had stopped, but I barely noticed. Again, I cannot describe the feeling of seeing droves of people pour out of the building; celebrating, crying, doing both at the same time! Some I knew, many I did not, of course, but they all had shared in the experience of being led by God to be baptized.
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<br />As the baptisms began, me and another man, Patrick, began to welcome the men who had just been baptized. Wow, what a privilege to be in this position. I am truly blessed! We celebrated, and we worked hard. Patrick was incredible as he pretty much gathered all the wet clothes, showed the men to the rooms, congratulated them, handed them plastic bags for anything wet they needed to take home, etc., while I spent most of the time congratulating and looking for their names on bags containing their dry clothes.
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<br />Flash forward to Sunday a.m.; similar routine to Saturday evening, but no rain. As the invitation began and people by the hundreds began streaming out of the building, Patrick stopped by. He said he would be back to help, but he had something to do first. So I had a little help, but I was basically manning the inside of the tent myself, as Patrick had done the night before. I am glad I had his example, because that was not an easy job, and it was HOT! Anyway, about 2/3 of the way through, Patrick arrives. He’s soaking wet. That thing he had to do was to be baptized! Wow! I gave my new friend a hug as tears streamed down my eyes. Also, he couldn’t get back out of the tent after changing, because he jumped right in and began assisting all the others who had been baptized.
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<br />Later that afternoon I received a text from a dear friend in our egroup (That’s elevation speak for small group). He is a new Christian and was texting me to let me know he and his wife had been baptized at the Matthews campus! This was by far the best news of the day! I wish I could have been there to see that, but on the other hand, I’ve already seen the evidence of his new life in Christ.
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<br />By the end of the day, Elevation Church had baptized over 1,400 individuals who followed Jesus in baptism. I’ve left out so, so many details and wonderful stories. There is a great video here, <a href="http://t.co/Q9nFLet">http://t.co/Q9nFLet</a>, but even though it is an incredible video, it still doesn’t quite capture what it was like to experience this. If you would like to read about some other experiences, get on twitter and search #follow2011.
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<br />Oh, and one more thing, Elevation Church is doing this again next weekend! You should be there.
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-2821125369322694202011-08-09T13:29:00.001-04:002011-08-09T13:31:28.781-04:00Look out!I have the blogging urge again, and I tend to be long winded after being out for.... a year? Seriously? I'll try to do much better (but let's be honest, I probably won't).
<br />Stay tuned.
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-42963140034373982312010-08-01T11:01:00.003-04:002010-08-01T11:05:15.102-04:00The Praying MantisI love our backyard. It’s an undeserving love, because it requires a lot of my attention and care. I spent yesterday morning mowing it, which doesn’t make it so loveable. But in the process I saw 5 frogs (4 of which were very small), two butterflies, two baby lizards, several grasshoppers, our pet spider, and a praying mantis. What helped me pass the time while mowing was watching this mantis try to evade the lawn mower. He was in the header strip I had cut, but each time I would make a pass he would freeze so as to camouflage himself in the grass. Then after I would make the turn he would crawl like crazy trying to move out of harm’s way. He finally made it safely to the sidewalk and then crossed over to the patch of yard on the other side. Unfortunately for him, that was the next patch of yard on my mowing agenda. As I started on that patch, I actually had to go around him once. He had gone into “hiding”, even though I could see him just fine.<br /><br />The comparison came to my mind about how we sometimes try to hide from God when we aren’t in His will. We somehow forget that He loves us, and that He has promised that He will protect us, not harm us. We do everything in our power to try to protect ourselves, all the while hoping God can’t see what we are doing. We try to hide our sin, we try to work hard and “crawl like crazy” to cover it up, we even “freeze” in our walk for Christ and put our lives on hold, trying to pretend being out of God’s will can’t hurt us. If we would just repent and show ourselves, God would make sure we are protected. I was reminded, partly because I’ve been reading Romans 8 out loud first thing every morning this week (thank you Pastor Furtick), of<br /><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">Romans 8:38 “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!” </span><br /><br />I’m not sure of the fate of the mantis. After avoiding him the one time, his camouflage worked and I never spotted him again, probably to his detriment. Thankfully, we are not able to hide from God, and He is always faithful to draw us back to His protection when we seek Him and stop hiding.<br /><br />If you need a happy ending, the mantis was so grateful for my protection that he became a vegetarian and began eating grass. He converted all of his friends, and I never had to mow again. The end.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-63498054792676045092009-08-22T23:32:00.000-04:002009-08-22T23:36:06.242-04:00CongratulationsI danced with Cinderella.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-84288474206350337122009-08-21T11:04:00.000-04:002009-08-21T11:16:02.881-04:00Rehearsal dayIt's Friday morning, rehearsal day. We woke up to rain and thunderstorms. The girls have gone off with Sean's mom and two nieces for manicures and pedicures. I went down for the complimentary cooked to order breakfast. Tate is still asleep. I just read Tad's facebook status, and he is in his first college class.<br />You should see this hotel room. It is a two room suite, typical Embassy Suites room if you've ever stayed there. It is wall to wall wedding stuff. Gift baskets (some made, some in process), attendants presents, decoarations menus, "candy bar" items, wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses, tuxedos, oh, and of course beds and clothes for five people for over a week. There's not enough room for the maid to get in. Yesterday we just handed her about ten dirty towels and traded them for clean ones. It's been nice being togrther, the six of us, for this week.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-35345004995676187932009-08-20T18:30:00.000-04:002009-08-20T20:12:13.521-04:00Catching upI had a feeling this blogging would be more than I could handle. Now I'm having to do it with my phone, which is pretty painful for me.<br />Tad got moved in on Sunday. On Monday the girls did wedding stuff and we guys went shopping. Tad needed a shelf/tv stand, a tv, and a router. We started at Ikea and got the shelf. Next we went to Best Buy, Target, and Walmart pricing tvs and routers; we got the router at Walmart. Then we snuck in Sams and found the tv on clearance. We convinced them to sell it to us even though we didn't have a membership. Technically they gave us a one day temporary membership. All of the shopping and going from store to store took almost an hour. When we walked out of Sams, Tate remarked, "This makes four stores we've been in and out of in record time today. (not Best Buy, the other four)<br />So we got that set up in Tad's room and walked the campus, then headed to Tina's cousin's house, where we set up camp for three days.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-65503186153655745662009-08-16T10:20:00.000-04:002009-08-16T10:21:01.467-04:00On the RoadThe trip today has been very smooth. Maggie said we should roll into the hotel around 10:30 without stops, so we are shooting for midnight.<br /><br />We are using Tad’s collection of King of the Hill DVDs as entertainment on the road. He’s keeping them at school, so we have to get through 6 seasons. <br /><br />Two stops before hitting the road, lunch and Office Depot. I have no idea what the Office Depot stop was for, but I think Tina’s sprint through the store looking for whatever it was proved to be unsuccessful.<br /><br />Today it’s the other side of the rode that got the interstate closure. An overturned 18-wheeler blocking the way. Yikes!<br /><br />A stop at Cracker Barrel 3 hours down the road made for a good bathroom break, then Tina has taken over the driving, while I blog this with Hank Hill in the background. <br /><br />We just passed through Chunky, Mississippi, and felt a little sorrow for the winner of their beauty pageant, Miss Chunky.<br /><br />Just checked Tad’s facebook status: Tad Daniels is starting to abhor driving. Ha<br /><br />Tad just called and asked if they had camera’s that take a picture if you are speeding. He saw what he thought was one, and it flashed as Tina drove passed it, doing, well, just a little over the speed limit. I guess we’ll have to wait for that one in the mail.<br /><br />We are between Jackson and Vicksburg, Mississippi. The plan is to stop in Vicksburg for dinner and Target, and to rotate drivers. I’ll drive Tad’s car, Tina will continue to drive the van and Tad will get a much needed break.<br /><br />I just took a picture of a high school football practice, out my window. I’m not sure why.<br /> <br />Evidently, Vicksburg doesn’t have a Target.<br /><br />Just hit a very hard shower. We got through it in about 5 minutes, not too bad. (especially since I wasn’t driving).<br /><br />More later.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-33338312493520865202009-08-15T10:17:00.000-04:002009-08-15T10:47:09.739-04:00Right On ScheduleI was a little late leaving work, but got out of there a little after two. Hopefully we could still be on the road before 4:00, which would put us at our hotwire paid hotel in Birmingham around 10:00, not too bad. I decided to wait and eat my lunch on the road and let Tina start the trip driving. I reversed that decision around 3:30, when we were still well away from being packed. Uh-oh, we are a little behind schedule. <br /> Uh-oh, we are a lot behind schedule. We finally pull out of the drive, with Tad following in his car, a little before six, and we had to make a stop by the bank and a stop to get a bag of ice (when did ice get to be 2.50 a bag?) Anyway, we are finally on the road. Thirty minutes later we are stuck in traffic just outside of Charlotte. I mean bumper-to-bumper, standstill traffic. So, I pull out my handy-dandy GPS and ask Maggie for a detour. 45 minutes later we are back in Fort Mill, heading out a different way. Check the rearview and Tad is still there.<br />Ugh. It's around 7:30 and Maggie tells us we should be at our hotel around two (that's a.m., for those keeping score at home). Of course Maggie doesn't realize we haven't had dinner yet.<br /> After a long stop at McDonalds, where Tina had to teach them how to make a burger and fill a cup with ice and coke, the new ETA is 2:30, but we are finally on the interstate. <br />Do not travel I-85 through diwntown Atlanta at midnight on a Friday night! 5 lanes, 4 of which are closed. Nearly one hour stuck in traffic (no attempt at a detour this time). New ETA, 3:30. By this time who cares right, just get us to a bed.<br />Finally some good news, we arrive at 3:30, but we've crossed a time zone so it's only 2:30 here. Hey, at this point it's all about the small victories. Heading out in an our or so for the second leg, surely it will be better, right?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-73199141880785666012009-08-14T13:44:00.000-04:002009-08-14T13:45:07.506-04:00Welcome BackWell, what do you know, I remembered the username and password to my blog account. So to catch you up on what’s going on, my future son-in-law graduates today (congratulations Sean, well done), my older son Tad begins his post high school education next week, and my oldest, Teisha, is getting married next Saturday. Since I have nothing going on to keep me busy, I decided to start blogging again. Actually, I mentioned to Tina an idea about blogging the next couple of weeks’ experiences, and she sort of committed me to it on her facebook page, so I’ll do the best I can. I expect this to be more like a twitter in some cases, but since my twitter account is over a year old and I can’t remember the user id and password, I’ll blog.<br />This afternoon we start heading to Texas, so when I get home from work I’m sure Tina will have everything packed and Tad will have it all loaded so we can head out as soon as I do some pool maintenance. Yes, I still have some pool maintenance to do, you don’t think I planned ahead or anything do you? <br />(By the way, in my own “Where’s Waldo” kind of way, I have hidden sarcasm throughout the blog that may or may not be obvious.)<br />I’m very excited about the week ahead, but emotions are really all over the place. Tad starting college, Teisha getting married, having a son-in-law, all sound like great things, but they also certainly signal a change in our family dynamics. Of course, our family has always been about changing dynamics, from adding kids to relocating to different states, and with God’s help we have always ended up ahead of where we started. I don’t expect this will be any different. <br />My goal for the next two weeks is to just enjoy the ride, and if you keep up through my blog, I hope you enjoy it as well. Now, I have about 10 hours work to get done in the next half-hour or so, then we are on our way.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-69213658195757265792009-01-07T21:31:00.003-05:002009-01-07T21:53:37.401-05:00Happy BirthdayTo Me. I celebrated by working a couple of extra hours. Yeah, not my idea of a good time, but tis the season at my office. Anyway, Tina and the kids made me feel special with what little time they had. Tina had a lot of friends from all over send me email with birthday wishes. Many I hadn't heard from in quite some time, and it was really great getting these email throughout the day. And Tina even came to my work and took me to lunch. So yeah, it was good day in spite of all the work.<br />I am feeling a whole year older though. That's kind of yucky. I'm sure I'll grow out of this feeling in a few days.<br /><br />This is the dessert I had for lunch.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeoOZJ0ZvuGRThMXeI8duzbyjvFInHQPCo5SYWJL4ExjMgEYIEPzotEY-3M4m2shinBhOuyKS-m3O3XJYOK7Rufy1jvy06ZzU_6f8kXnUyfH7-kCm36tAp2GSAPF68wzQNhhzJxCFuPkpV/s1600-h/creme+brulee.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeoOZJ0ZvuGRThMXeI8duzbyjvFInHQPCo5SYWJL4ExjMgEYIEPzotEY-3M4m2shinBhOuyKS-m3O3XJYOK7Rufy1jvy06ZzU_6f8kXnUyfH7-kCm36tAp2GSAPF68wzQNhhzJxCFuPkpV/s320/creme+brulee.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288750455213080114" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-11273361051862888392008-12-24T11:34:00.001-05:002008-12-24T11:36:28.663-05:00Merry ChristmasIt’s been a while since I have blogged. In the meantime I have appeased the guilt and nagging about not blogging by convincing myself, if not others, that the delay was an overt attempt to leave the tribute to Tina up a little longer. Tina didn’t buy it, so I guess I’ll give in and blog.<br />I thought I’d share some seasonal thoughts and memories. There is good news and bad news to this. The bad news is I think a lot, so there is likely to be a scattering of random thoughts throughout the blog. The good news is I can’t remember what my thoughts were five minutes ago, so that should at least limit the volume, if not the randomness.<br /><br />I took Tate shopping last night for a few last minute items. Every year he has trouble getting his shopping done, as he has neither money nor transportation. At least that’s true for shopping for mom. He can’t really surprise her much if she drives him and accompanies him throughout the store. So each year I take him shopping, sometimes the other kids go with us. Oh, and I’m usually behind on my shopping as well, so it’s not just for Tate. Hey give me a break, it’s not like I have money or wheels either. Well, money anyway. Even though I usually don’t look forward to this, I always enjoy it more than I thought, and this year was no exception. I enjoy seeing everyone busy about their shopping, and spending time with Tate. Tina accompanied us this year, but we dropped her at another store and met up later, so I think the surprise is intact, though my surprises are not always good ones, for instance her birthday, but that’s another story and memory that I’d rather not bring up. Anyway, the only part I didn’t like was the madness of driving, especially in the parking lot. As we were leaving some guy nearly ran over people trying to cut in front of us for a parking space. Made me chuckle a little since we were leaving, and since he didn’t kill anyone. Chill dude.<br /><br />One of my favorite Christmas memories is the years when I played Jesus as an adult in our church’s Christmas play. Two things about this: 1) This always was very humbling for me (which I need) and made me closer to God, and 2) If you are looking for a good diet plan, I recommend committing to being on a stage in front of a thousand or more of your friends, relatives, coworkers, and strangers wearing what our music minister referred to as a diaper. If you would like pictures of this for blackmail or a good chuckle, I’m sure they are bringing a premium price somewhere on the internet.<br /><br />This year around our house Christmas has included a few activities. Tad was in the church’s Christmas program. None of us were able to see it live, as we had commitments elsewhere, but I’m sure it was great. He also sang in the choir during our church’s two candlelight services. I attended one of these and it’s always a wonderful event. Teisha is home, and that adds a stronger sense of family to the season. We sure miss her when she’s away. This year her fiancé will be visiting us after Christmas and we are looking forward to that. Also, Tina’s parents will be joining us for a few days around New Year’s Day. Tina was busy toward the last few days of school baking and doing Christmas parties at Tate’s school. I think he really enjoyed having her be a part of that, and Teisha made it home in time to help as well. Teal managed to get caught up on all of her schoolwork before school let out, after missing a week due to illness. It was very hard on her, but she was a trooper and persevered and I think she worked hard enough that her grades didn’t suffer. She also received a driving permit recently, so I’m sure we’ll be taking a few trips while I am off of work to get her some experience.<br />We played a game of video clue the other night. That is a fun game, but it takes a while. Our kids are getting much better at fooling me. By the end of the game, I think they all had it figured out, and I was more confused than anyone. Also, they were laughing and making jokes through the entire game while I was trying to speed it along. Obviously they were planning on sleeping in the next day while I was getting up to go to work.<br />Speaking of work, today is Christmas Eve and I will be working. I received an email from our corporate office with a schedule of due dates in January. I replied to the lady who sent it with some housekeeping item. She replied and congratulated me on being the only person on her distribution list working today. Somehow that doesn’t make me feel like a winner. I went back and counted and there were 76 people on her distribution list, in multiple locations across the U.S. Yea me. Anyway, we close at 2 today, and I may slip out early in order to…um…not get locked in. Yeah that’s it, I wouldn’t want to get locked in on Christmas Eve now would I.<br /><br />Well, I warned you it was going to be random and rambling, and I didn’t let you down. Oh, one last thing. I was reading a blog from <a href="http://deltackett.com/2008/12/23/%e2%80%9cin-the-fullness-of-time%e2%80%a6%e2%80%9d/">“The Truth Project”</a> and they had an interesting comment on the Christmas story. If you get a chance, read Galatians 4:4 and relate it to the Christmas story. I’ll summarize:<br /><br /><em>4) But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5)in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. 6)And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7)So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.</em><br /><br />I like the entire passage, but particularly focus on the first comment this time of year. The birth of Christ was no accident. It was planned and it happened just as planned, when the right time had come. That’s a quick summary, but if you have time, slow down and spend some time thinking and praying about what all that means. It’s incredible, as God’s Word always is.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#ff0000;"><strong>Merry Christmas to everyone!</strong></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-46723115727850230732008-11-19T09:00:00.001-05:002008-11-19T09:02:13.802-05:00She Is....And So Much More<strong>Happy<br /></strong><span style="color:#009900;"><em>adoring, affectionate, alluring, amusing, attractive, bright, caring<br /> charitable, charming, cheerful, clever, comical, considerate,<br /> content, cool, delightful, dependable, devoted, devout, divine<br /> ecstatic, elegant, enchanting, enjoyable, entertaining, exquisite<br /> exultant, faithful, fascinating, fine-looking, fun, funny, generous<br /> glamorous, good-looking, gorgeous, graceful, hilarious, humorous<br /> intelligent, jovial, joyful, lovely, loving, loyal, magnificent, neat<br /> on cloud nine, pleasing, pleasurable, quick, reliable, saintly<br /> sensational, sexy, smart, spiritual, steadfast, steady, stunning<br /> stylish, superb, supportive, thoughtful, thrilling, trendy, trustworthy<br /> trusty, witty, wonderful, beautiful</em><br /></span><strong>Birthday<br />Tina</strong>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-48864966889196879062008-11-18T14:27:00.000-05:002008-11-18T14:28:39.451-05:00Weekend WarriorWeekends at our house in the fall usually involve some kind of football. This past weekend we were treated to NCAA college football, NFL football and PS2 football. Tate and I are the big football fans, the others only have a peripheral interest. The main teams we pull for at the NCAA level are The University of Texas Longhorns, Purdue, Clemson, and for some reason Tate loves to pull for the Oregon Ducks. In the NFL it’s the Cowboys and the Colts, and to a lesser degree the Panthers. I’ve been a Cowboy fan literally longer than I can remember. We became Colts fan during our 3-year stay in Indiana, and since Tate was born there, he’s really adopted them as his team. No illegal rooting going on here (with the exception of the Ducks). I’m not sure Tina knew what she was getting into when she married a Cowboy/football fan, but she’s a good sport and keeps interested and roots for them as well. She does have to bug out during the close games and turn on Desperate Housewife’s or something. She can’t stand the tension. <br /> <br />Oh, and in case you haven’t heard, do you know what Purdue fans do after their team wins the National Championship?<br />They turn off the PS2 and go outside.<br /><br />Anyway, mixed in with the Longhorn and Clemson win, and the Purdue loss this weekend, was some quality dining room painting time. Well, I use the word quality loosely. Hopefully I’ll post some pictures so you can check it out. I hate painting, and this was no exception. However, I put on a good attitude, carefully taped off the crown molding, chair rail, columns, windows and doors and began to paint. The trim part I especially hated. However, after 2 coats, and several football games, it was finished. The next morning we removed the tape. AAAGGGHH! It was awful. Some of the paint had seeped behind the tape and ran onto the molding. Some of the paint on the wall peeled off with the tape. So now there’s tons of touchup and cleanup to be done, and I am all out of good painting attitude. I suppose either Tina or I will muster up some “want to” and get it done in the next weeks, but no promises.<br />The only thing to really perk me up was the Cowboys beating the Redskins Sunday night. The Colts and the Panthers also came away with wins, but the Cowboy win was just what the doctor ordered. I especially like the finish where they were up 4 and got the ball back with 6:23 left. They gave the ball to Marion Barber 9 times straight and said to the Redskins, “this is what we got, what are you going to do about it”? No answer from the skins, Cowboys run out the clock and win.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-37533808002083500832008-11-12T10:15:00.003-05:002008-11-12T10:18:17.667-05:00My Kids Are All SickOne is sick and tired of homework<br />One is sick smart in calculus<br />One is lovesick<br />And one has pneumonia.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-27113582692780318402008-11-11T10:55:00.001-05:002008-11-11T10:55:59.680-05:00Riverside Park Soldiers and Sailors Memorial<div style="text-align: left; padding: 3px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/9280259@N07/2522693089/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2382/2522693089_5b06dac2d5.jpg" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" alt="" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/9280259@N07/2522693089/">Memorial</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/9280259@N07/">SCTim</a>.</span></div><p>In Memory and Honor of all of our Veterans.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-34927343378648745332008-11-08T10:08:00.000-05:002008-11-08T10:09:50.573-05:00A Life Lesson: A Lesson From A LifeI took a trip down memory lane yesterday. The trip was initiated by an email from Tina about one of our friends and their special needs child. This took me back 15 or 20 years to another special needs child that was in our life. Her name was Kathryn, and she must have been somewhere around 5 years old. I can’t say I knew her well, but we worked with her about once a month during children’s chapel. She required a little extra attention. For instance, if you wanted her to sit down, you had to lead her to her seat. She always insisted on holding on to your hand when moving from one place to another. She was not verbal at all. She could make sounds, and interpreting these sounds into what she wanted became easier the more you got to know her. Kathryn always had a smile and a hug for anyone who was willing to be loved. <br /><br />Kathryn’s life on earth ended somewhere around that time. She may have been as old as seven years old, I don’t remember exactly. Her earthly body was just not created to last that many years. What I do remember is her funeral. Our pastor, Brother Ken, officiated at her services. For those of you who don’t know Brother Ken, let me give you a brief biography. At the time of this funeral, he had been pastor of this church for somewhere around 35 years (It’s been over 50 now). He is an incredible man. He had served as chaplain of the police department and fire department in this metropolitan area. He had also served as chaplain for the Texas Highway patrol. All this as well as being pastor of this church with somewhere around 500 attending at the time. I mention this to point out that Brother Ken had seen a lot of tragedy. He had stood beside families who had lost loved ones way too early in life, sometimes multiple family members. I’ll let you think through what all kinds of things this man may have experienced in these roles for 35 years.<br /><br />But I watched him at Kathryn’s funeral. I remember the tears streaming down the cheeks of this man who had always shown strength while showing compassion at the same time. Yet now emotion overtook him. Through the tears, while choking back the nearly uncontrollable sobs, he spoke of how he had learned so much from Kathryn. Kathryn had taught him about love. Specifically, he had learned from her what unconditional love meant, the same love that our God has for us. I am still learning this lesson, as I remember this young girl. I’m not sure what Kathryn’s new heavenly body is like. I’m sure it’s perfect, and I wonder what it might be like. I have seen perfect love, through Jesus, and an example of that through a young girl who touched so many lives simply by having, showing, and giving unconditional love.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-38463429381849181002008-11-01T12:31:00.005-04:002008-12-24T19:15:57.824-05:00Halloween at Our House<div style='text-align:center;margin:0px auto 10px;'><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuxuDfZIixmh9ytfiXO9keiSiOZEJQaHKhw-6aPMrO8dhBzbljJkwOLIbjajFI7sH9hJpBrWaerh8q97z4FRai7Wv6MJiyURYPsln5bNk0-snEoX0prMeuyqn3Me5nvQM9UDdBdRcngFQc/s1600-h/DSCN5049.jpg'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuxuDfZIixmh9ytfiXO9keiSiOZEJQaHKhw-6aPMrO8dhBzbljJkwOLIbjajFI7sH9hJpBrWaerh8q97z4FRai7Wv6MJiyURYPsln5bNk0-snEoX0prMeuyqn3Me5nvQM9UDdBdRcngFQc/s320/DSCN5049.jpg' border='0' alt='' /></a> </div><br />Pumpkin Carving<br /><div style='text-align:center;margin:0px auto 10px;'><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_qMNm-VCUM-w-fKmzFmT1uDMgzjFG_rzLNoCdBSTUxWeAyW1iMRkj9vVon_SKxGI5uPVzcQSwqZ77eDLmgSPS3AmsDFkCebeHAbsiMWRcRLNh5tZc-3Mby2nlq0EIyLb6yZeFQIveL7rA/s1600-h/DSCN5066.jpg'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_qMNm-VCUM-w-fKmzFmT1uDMgzjFG_rzLNoCdBSTUxWeAyW1iMRkj9vVon_SKxGI5uPVzcQSwqZ77eDLmgSPS3AmsDFkCebeHAbsiMWRcRLNh5tZc-3Mby2nlq0EIyLb6yZeFQIveL7rA/s320/DSCN5066.jpg' border='0' alt='' /></a> </div><br /><br />Tate's Costume<br /><br /><div style='text-align:center;margin:0px auto 10px;'><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGpkisMAbcF_GVtI617ARH4B5-c2ODwJZ3-Z5IQPrvMBPsKzEhJguog1loH39oVY_d4lAOEqkjX-pzM8YqJg8g9HiPg4zB45KlcPzeIBrl2UFVv3LFPvMWSJpVAZHXVZ9i86rhn8f01Wuf/s1600-h/DSCN5070-1.jpg'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGpkisMAbcF_GVtI617ARH4B5-c2ODwJZ3-Z5IQPrvMBPsKzEhJguog1loH39oVY_d4lAOEqkjX-pzM8YqJg8g9HiPg4zB45KlcPzeIBrl2UFVv3LFPvMWSJpVAZHXVZ9i86rhn8f01Wuf/s400/DSCN5070-1.jpg' border='0' alt='' /></a> </div><br />Atlanta Braves hat - $14.00<br />Old Navy Jacket - $35.99<br />Gap Jeans - $29.99<br /><div style='text-align:center;margin:0px auto 10px;'><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEGmQ2AhYKcEmyn3r-OHeqFHUuPPg-lXjF8H4CTiK7xhE1sH6gcL2kI-FUi_0HDzT62ub5afARTt4Nu-dWsoz9VDolEwQ8_BxtCUa24YHEybpXODfKPcL8k3wGDXvx_eqm_F9oxolJ4oKN/s1600-h/DSCN5072.jpg'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEGmQ2AhYKcEmyn3r-OHeqFHUuPPg-lXjF8H4CTiK7xhE1sH6gcL2kI-FUi_0HDzT62ub5afARTt4Nu-dWsoz9VDolEwQ8_BxtCUa24YHEybpXODfKPcL8k3wGDXvx_eqm_F9oxolJ4oKN/s400/DSCN5072.jpg' border='0' alt='' /></a> </div><br />Getting free candy from a complete stranger - Priceless<br /><br /><div style='text-align:center;margin:0px auto 10px;'><a href='http://localhost:2496/fa68ead132d8a36f7a75d56c762f905b/image1086.jpg'><img src='http://localhost:2496/fa68ead132d8a36f7a75d56c762f905b/image1086.jpg?size=320' border='0' alt='' /></a> </div><br /><br />Too much sugar!<br /><div style='text-align:center;margin:0px auto 10px;'><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigsUuJTqnxpl9vIF4p8gV3l5SmfQjak_dPKT6kSzeStnmZQolQhkDbBdyyYII-7E2d6_BS735ma18LmTLC1XAHsJqafx9LXa8M5o8d2MY85IfzfN3T8iepJYy_vAnQULvp8zVAXfAs7Htd/s1600-h/DSCN5073.jpg'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigsUuJTqnxpl9vIF4p8gV3l5SmfQjak_dPKT6kSzeStnmZQolQhkDbBdyyYII-7E2d6_BS735ma18LmTLC1XAHsJqafx9LXa8M5o8d2MY85IfzfN3T8iepJYy_vAnQULvp8zVAXfAs7Htd/s320/DSCN5073.jpg' border='0' alt='' /></a> </div><div style='clear:both; text-align:CENTER'><a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-47131069925433184492008-10-16T10:09:00.003-04:002008-10-16T10:19:58.238-04:00This Week, Well some of it anywayTate celebrated his birthday with friends<br /><div style='text-align:center;margin:0px auto 10px;'><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJVdNHsImBXCclPX9bq6q_iluyBS2oA9NvVSwLvlPsG3VFLNGqYwZPJz7RnWozghbbnEna2la-qDWdMcwq-AaaYk9YXR3YUolDrH1Ma_UnGM5cPEVY1n7MyD6qAJ77Dduwf2glboWHuwA6/s1600-h/DSCN4769.jpg'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJVdNHsImBXCclPX9bq6q_iluyBS2oA9NvVSwLvlPsG3VFLNGqYwZPJz7RnWozghbbnEna2la-qDWdMcwq-AaaYk9YXR3YUolDrH1Ma_UnGM5cPEVY1n7MyD6qAJ77Dduwf2glboWHuwA6/s320/DSCN4769.jpg' border='0' alt='' /></a> </div><div style='clear:both; text-align:CENTER'><a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a></div><br />and a movie<br /><div style='text-align:center;margin:0px auto 10px;'><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFE1VS-YoXs3jfgYSl-ncLJTJOKAYfV3yCCoorpnpmfftkWfaKGUYoBOadwRCrHnocCpFFcqQjlbxuqqPQHBXvsnlAXSPWhMYoyiqwLS0JZQPfrkLp0oMwBVq9nj1OiEzfR9CpqNTaEoLJ/s1600-h/DSCN4775.jpg'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFE1VS-YoXs3jfgYSl-ncLJTJOKAYfV3yCCoorpnpmfftkWfaKGUYoBOadwRCrHnocCpFFcqQjlbxuqqPQHBXvsnlAXSPWhMYoyiqwLS0JZQPfrkLp0oMwBVq9nj1OiEzfR9CpqNTaEoLJ/s320/DSCN4775.jpg' border='0' alt='' /></a> </div><br />We hosted a chili cookoff<br /><br /><div style='text-align:center;margin:0px auto 10px;'><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHMtQOlfwRBa6dHhU3AbNvoWVFcMNZkcWgt_Yx1iZK0qP7q7n9de5t2u8OIOVZFkdZFcsf_vpImRIuUtE43jpyOrol3IDFvpJlUSlEkC_UaqFvnv2INlLhGna9QKM6TQl1bQmSys83Noee/s1600-h/DSCN4779.jpg'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHMtQOlfwRBa6dHhU3AbNvoWVFcMNZkcWgt_Yx1iZK0qP7q7n9de5t2u8OIOVZFkdZFcsf_vpImRIuUtE43jpyOrol3IDFvpJlUSlEkC_UaqFvnv2INlLhGna9QKM6TQl1bQmSys83Noee/s320/DSCN4779.jpg' border='0' alt='' /></a> </div><br />good times<br /><div style='text-align:center;margin:0px auto 10px;'><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2E2PI3QohaSB9DALrss2cNg2MsRZbKotXnej5eVYnhrkb2540LRHbIueazySPlxyqhoNMnSGejv-Sl_xkH8PWiuAAm2cHClGKxu-sUBFoDaJQIDxHKpoMlyK9pWug6hSsJ5LHj7q96nu_/s1600-h/DSCN4786.jpg'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2E2PI3QohaSB9DALrss2cNg2MsRZbKotXnej5eVYnhrkb2540LRHbIueazySPlxyqhoNMnSGejv-Sl_xkH8PWiuAAm2cHClGKxu-sUBFoDaJQIDxHKpoMlyK9pWug6hSsJ5LHj7q96nu_/s320/DSCN4786.jpg' border='0' alt='' /></a> </div><div style='clear:both; text-align:CENTER'><a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a></div><br />Teal is inducted into Beta Club<br /><div style='text-align:center;margin:0px auto 10px;'><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcZ-tmS8NfctQPxOEHhHBFLMFIWYyScaBY0GYhgx2IFz1D7FpkulzVW9Gq6NgzOIcqVaPwvD8w8E8CFf6nrd4WQ1TIRGElFiGpJNfsA_4QELZls0UXNzD2yuNliNkiGK7h-rLSs2NZE-7A/s1600-h/DSCN4791.jpg'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcZ-tmS8NfctQPxOEHhHBFLMFIWYyScaBY0GYhgx2IFz1D7FpkulzVW9Gq6NgzOIcqVaPwvD8w8E8CFf6nrd4WQ1TIRGElFiGpJNfsA_4QELZls0UXNzD2yuNliNkiGK7h-rLSs2NZE-7A/s320/DSCN4791.jpg' border='0' alt='' /></a> </div><div style='clear:both; text-align:CENTER'><a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-79785646905024277812008-10-10T13:05:00.001-04:002008-10-10T13:08:02.885-04:00Nothing Like A Good Night's SleepSo last night I nestled down in bed around 10:30 and watched the ending of the Clemson – Wake Forest game. Good game, WF wins. Anyway, I was ready for a good night’s sleep. Then:<br /><br />10:45 p.m. Turned off the TV and the light.<br /><br />11:00 p.m. - Dog is still whining. He went out right before bedtime. He must not like the temporary location of his kennel where he sleeps at night. “Gizmo hush”. Finally, 10 minutes later, he seems to have quieted down.<br /><br />12:00 a.m. - I hear Tina roll over and say, “What’s that” in a very sleepy voice. I wake up and see that my nifty little I-Pod radio alarm is trying to go off. The light comes on, but it’s not on a radio station so there is just low level static. It has two different alarms that can be set, and one of them has accidentally been set to midnight, I think sometime during a power loss. I wish I could figure out how to work this thing. I’ve only had it about 10 months. Tina suggests we give it to Teal.<br /><br />12:10 a.m. - Finally get the alarm off. I’m not sure which combination of button pushing worked, so I’ll probably get to do this again tomorrow. If you’re up, give me a call.<br /><br />1:00 a.m. – I hear a deep voice. “Mom”. I wake up to see Tad standing in our doorway. “What’s up Tad”.<br />“I threw up”<br />Uh-oh. Visions of cleaning up vomit, and memories of nights doing that when the kids were small and would catch a virus, flashed through my mind.<br />Tina – “Do I need to clean something up?”<br />Tad – “No, I made it to the bathroom”.<br />Whew, that was a close one. That would have been a huge disaster.<br />“Get some water and go back to bed. Make sure you stay hydrated.”<br /><br />1:15 a.m - “Gizmo hush”<br /><br />1:20 a.m. - Finally silence.<br /><br />1:21 a.m. - Bathroom trip. I’m awake; I might as well pee so I can sleep later tomorrow morning.<br /><br />1:30: a.m. - “Gizmo hush”<br /><br />1:35 a.m. - Finally doze off to sleep.<br /><br />3:00 a.m. - “Mom”<br /><br />3:01 -3:25 a.m. – Disaster clean up.<br /><br />3:30 a.m. - Take Gizmo outside and make another bathroom trip. I’m sleeping very late tomorrow.<br /><br />3:35 a.m.- Move Gizmo’s kennel to another spot.<br /><br />3:38 a.m. – “Gizmo hush”<br /><br />4:00 a.m. – I hear Tina rollover and get out of bed. “What’s wrong?”. “Can’t sleep”, she says. I haven’t been asleep either, but I stay in bed and doze off.<br /><br />6:00 a.m. – The second alarm on my “nifty” Ipod alarm goes off. Crap, I should have remembered to turn that off during the night. This one I can turn off easily, back to sleep.<br /><br />6:02 a.m. – Tina’s alarm goes off and she gets up. She apparently made it back to bed some time.<br /><br />6:10 a.m. Tina’s alarm is going off again. She must have shut it off with the snooze.<br /><br />6:13 a.m. – Finally manage to fumble around with the buttons and get her alarm off. Good, now I can sleep until 8:00, rush around to get ready and still make it to work by nine-oclock.<br /><br />7:15 a.m. - “Tim, can you take Teal to school”?<br />“What time do we need to leave”?<br /><br />7:20 a.m. - Tina and Teal have ended their conversation about what time to leave, so I get out of bed.<br /><br />7:20 – 7:35 – Not sure exactly what I did during this time. <br /><br />7:35 a.m. – Leave the house and drive Teal to school, then continue on to work.<br /><br /><br />Yes, this was nothing like a good night’s sleep.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-64938565065627473472008-09-27T20:40:00.000-04:002008-09-27T20:40:42.347-04:00How's that for a battery?<div style='text-align:center;margin:0px auto 10px;'><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz-CwHl1A6iuhgdQVFY7IEyUdVcsMjsB5sD91Q6G3bE3NDzYNNRHJqoHt3JTmXGUrIX_WOldQxCVEH8q-Fg2oWsy3mGIs-lTI2jdePJi8OJP0pUDrXQljyNEKrWL3PZDAE_MNNAoARLkHI/s1600-h/DSCN4742.jpg'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz-CwHl1A6iuhgdQVFY7IEyUdVcsMjsB5sD91Q6G3bE3NDzYNNRHJqoHt3JTmXGUrIX_WOldQxCVEH8q-Fg2oWsy3mGIs-lTI2jdePJi8OJP0pUDrXQljyNEKrWL3PZDAE_MNNAoARLkHI/s320/DSCN4742.jpg' border='0' alt='' /></a> </div><div style='clear:both; text-align:CENTER'><a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-41637480694974617942008-09-27T19:49:00.002-04:002008-09-27T20:19:27.675-04:00El PresidenteYeah, it's been awhile. I have been busy, and have so much to blog about. Some of which will have to wait until I read my company's policy on blogging, as it is work related. Suffice it to say that is part of the busyness. Hopefully having so many of these thoughts and ideas will keep me motivated to post more frequently.<br /><br />With so many topics to choose from for this blog, I asked Tina to give me a topic, then I basically forced her to ( in a nice way), and she came up with the presidential election. That wasn't really one of the topics I had in mind, but if it takes me this long until my next blog, well it would be to late for this topic. I won't get too political for you here hopefully. According to most polls, whatever I say will not sit well with about half of the people in our country, but oh well, the other half will think I'm cool.<br /><br />My favorite candidate did not make the final two. Actually, I think there were a couple of candidates I would have wanted to vote for over the final two. I think Huckaby and/or Thompson would have been good choices. I've had trouble getting excited about McCain. So that leaves me with Obama. He seems likeable, is a Christian, and is fairly new to the political arena. I am a little disappointed with the state of the Washington climate, so a new guy sounds like a good idea.<br /><br />However, after doing more research and listening to the first debate, I can tell you the vote is going to be for McCain unless something happens to change my mind. Obama's policies and ideas are either unrealistic or socialistic. His goal in the debate of trying to link McCain to Bush seemed very political and did not address the issues. His ideas on the economy seem to want to punish the top 5% of income earners. Now, I'm nowhere near that group, but the idea seems to be one that would stifle the ingenuity and creativity that have made this country strong. Also, McCain was correct in saying that Obama's ideas on giving everyone access to free healthcare is turning over our health insurance to the federal government. That is the wrong answer.<br /><br />McCain's answers on cutting spending were just what I wanted to hear. Yeah, I know, they always tell you what you want to hear. But he has been enough of a maverick for me to believe he will at least attempt to curb spending. When the questions switched to foreign policy, McCain basically delivered the knock-out punch. McCain is head and shoulders above Obama when it comes to being knowledgeable and able to make foreign policy decisions.<br /><br />As for Vice-Presidents I don't really have a strong feeling between the two choices. Biden has more experience in Washington, but Palin brings experience at an executive position, plus she has dealt with governmental reform, which I think may come in handy in the current economic environment. I will say this, Palin has sure taken tremendous abuse from the media, and is still handling it well. The interviews she has done have been so widely distributed, edited, and misconstrued that many people I think are believing some of the false accusations against her strictly because of the volume of stuff they read about on the internet. Just because a lot of people or media say something false, it's still false.<br /><br />There are many other thoughts, ideas, and reasons for picking the candidates, but this hits the highlights I suppose. At least the highlights of my thoughts right now. Anyway, I usually stay away from politics, and many people who have made it this far would say I should keep it that way, but hey it's my blog.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-61409931401280519362008-07-09T17:11:00.004-04:002008-07-09T21:59:50.055-04:00Fruit Trees<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBHAs7WpxlJ_L2tme5nZrSZKNKgd9S6yHWjxNWZXOUpPdNnlrfXhCas6DK1iphDSu__2GaHoXM-p7pTpfHBRv7MMlhgUZZDd3urQTZKp5zBMi3FdkkcIfvPgITXtxUb4jr69-TXSfn7tLK/s1600-h/DSCN4380.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBHAs7WpxlJ_L2tme5nZrSZKNKgd9S6yHWjxNWZXOUpPdNnlrfXhCas6DK1iphDSu__2GaHoXM-p7pTpfHBRv7MMlhgUZZDd3urQTZKp5zBMi3FdkkcIfvPgITXtxUb4jr69-TXSfn7tLK/s320/DSCN4380.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221199235783553570" border="0" /></a><br />We have a plum tree in our yard. Who knew? Last year a late frost knocked all of the blooms off, so we didn't see any plums. This year there are plums galore. My youngest son and I went out and picked the ripe ones that we could reach Saturday. There were many others higher, and many others very nearly ripe. This morning our neighbor across the street called before I left for work and asked if she could pick the plums for jelly, so I told her yes. The ground below the tree was already covered with plums, I mean covered, so I figured before I could get out there again to pick them they would have fallen. They are so sweet and juicy. I'll attach a picture here later.<br />We also have a peach tree, but it is very young. It has probably 40 or so peaches on it, but they stopped getting bigger a few weeks ago. They are probably 1/3 of what their mature size should be, but I think there are too many for such a young tree. My dad told me in early spring when there were just blooms that I would probably have to pick a lot of them off. I thought he meant because the limbs wouldn't be able to bear the weight, and they probably wouldn't, but maybe he meant so the few we leave could mature. I think when I get a chance I'll pick 25 or so of them off of there, and hope it isn't too late.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-40584536998874051902008-07-02T10:59:00.000-04:002008-07-02T11:00:22.937-04:00For Living Out LoudI was reflecting on the lesson in our Adult Bible Fellowship class this past Sunday and had a few thoughts. The lesson was from Acts, where Saul was traveling on the road to Damascus on his way to persecute and kill Christians there, when he was converted. He made it to Damascus, though blind since his conversion, where a man of God, Ananias, followed God’s leadership and restored Saul’s sight.<br /><br />As I was thinking about this, I was considering this from the point of view of Ananias and other Christians in the area. I think with the persecution going on there, that these Christians were probably very diligent in their prayers for protection. I believe Saul’s conversion may have been God’s answer to these prayers, though I’m not sure the Christians of the time recognized this. In fact, when Ananias was first instructed by God to go to Saul, he hesitated a little to “make sure” God was providing the protection. As I reflected on this, I considered my own personal experiences with God’s protection.<br /><br />As I mentioned in a prior blog, the one thing I’ve been fairly good about as a father is to pray for my kids, and as they get older and into high school and college, the prayers for a hedge of protection around them have become even more diligent. God has been very faithful to me to provide this protection for my kids; protection from Satan’s attempts to capture their hearts. I’m sure I don’t always recognize the ways he provides this protection, and most of the times when I realize it, it is long after the fact.<br /><br />I will give you some examples of ways in which God has specifically answered my prayers for protection. He has placed many Christian men and women in their lives who have provided living examples of living for Christ. This includes teachers, principals, coaches, youth ministers, extended family members; I could list literally dozens of these people by name who have positively impacted the lives of my children, but I won’t, not because of the impossibility of the task, I know everyone says that, but because I fear a humble heart would break should I happen to miss one (some of that is a quote I adopted from a poem I memorized in high school, but true in this case). My wife likes to refer to these people as “living out loud” for Christ. No matter how many times parents tell kids the way they should live, as teens they tend to think their parents are nuts. However, when they see other adults living this life, for some reason they give it more credibility. I am thankful these people allow themselves to be used by God in this way.<br /><br />Another way he has provided protection is by placing Christian friends in their lives. I cannot tell you how many times I have prayed for strong Christian friendships for my kids, and God has faithfully answered that prayer. In fact, I am very fervently praying that prayer right now, not only for my kids but for the youth of our church as a whole. I’ve seen it with my kids over and over again. They grow closer to the Lord the most, when they have a good strong Christian friend base. This allows them to “live out loud” for Christ, and when they are challenged or tempted, they have a foundation of friends they can rely on to stand beside them and support them. <br /><br />The protection that Tina prays for probably more than I do, I learned it from her, is that if our kids have slipped into some kind of sinful lifestyle, that they will get caught. There have been times when God has answered this prayer faithfully as well, and though not as uplifting as the others, it is possibly more effective. It is much better for the kids to get caught before the sinful lifestyle gets too far out of control and does permanent damage to their life, and their witness for Christ. God is faithful and just to forgive our sins; sometimes we need to get “caught” in order to confess them.<br /><br />I believe God has provided protection in so many more ways than I have listed here. Like Ananias in the days of Saul, I don’t recognize these answers to prayers right away. I do recognize the results though; kids who are able to live out loud for Christ without fear.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6707173988638945351.post-42538060227279446022008-06-27T15:05:00.003-04:002008-06-27T15:07:26.688-04:00Happy BirthdayMy oldest son turned 18 yesterday. He was away, doing a staff camp. Staff camp is where a group goes and actually works at church camp, helping staff the camp. Tough not to be with him on his birthday, but he is doing God’s work. It’s fun to watch him. He does great in school, and does his chores when made to. He enjoys some TV shows and video games. But with all that, he’s never more diligent and excited than when he is serving God. He loves his church and his friends there and always works very hard, whether it be at various camps, mission projects, FCA, or various other things. Later on this year, he will be going to India on a mission trip and serving there. As a father, I can only watch him in awe. I failed in many ways, but the one thing I have done correctly is pray for my kids, and Tad is proof that God is faithful to answer prayers.<br /><br />Happy Birthday Tad.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0