technology is cool

I am laying in bed with my verizon vx 6900 smart phone writing a new post for my poor neglected blog. technology is just cool. how many of you over the age of thirty ever thought you would ever be able to take a computer everywhere you go much less talk on the phone when and wherever you want to. so as I think of how my life was when I was a kid and compare it to the technology we have today I can't help but wonder what new and amazing things will my children are going to see in there life time.

Morning Devotions

I have been doing something pretty foreign to our culture. Spending time in the Word of God and leading my family in worship around the breakfast table. Although I have been a Christian since the age of 16, I have never seen this practice put in place....at least consistantly. So it has been odd...at least at first. I figured that I needed to start this for the sake of my children. Who's responsibility to make sure children have a relationship with God....or at least know of God? What is the best way to teach children. These questions are answered with this one statement. It is a parents duty to model a life lived in relationship with Jesus. I want my children to understand what it means to have a relationship with Jesus. That means I must model it. So I began to institute morning devotions with my wife and children. We sit around the breakfast table and read the bible. Inevitably there are questions........(I love questions asked by inquisitive minds). This opens up great dialog with my kids. (Do you know the average father spends more time on the toilet than conversing with his children). I love to know what they are thinking. After reading scripture we read a devotional that is usually tied to the scripture that we just read. As I stated at the beginning of this post that when we first started doing this it seemed odd. It was hard getting everybodys attention at once. Trying to keep their attention was another matter altogether. But I persevered and I believe it has paid off. Now morning devotions are the highlight of my day.

My life during Holy Week 2008

I have been so busy this year. With Easter being so early this year, I haven't had time to breath. All of my extra time has been tied up with the particulars of the Easter program. Well it is actually a Good Friday program. This year it was particulary good. With the help of our exceptionally talented Drama leader we put up a set that was awesome. Although it was good, I am glad it is over. Not only was it Holy week, but my wife and oldest daughter were out of town for almost three weeks. This left me soley responsible for my ten year old son, seven year old daughter and my nephew who has come to live with us. Any other time this wouldn't have been a problem, but it was the busiest week of my whole year. While my lovely wife was gone. Everybody in my house decided it was time to come down with the stomach flu. It is so great to wake up to the sound of children saying, "dad, I puked in my room". It is even worse to have to clean up vomit at 3am. Not my favorite thing to do. Ah the joys of parenthood. Well I am going to go for now.

Bree's Birthday

Today was my beautiful wife's birthday. My oldest daughter Allie (both bree and allie are pictured here) planned and organized her mom's 35th birthday party. She even bought and paid for her birthday cake. It was a specialty cake made to look just like a couple of terra cotta pots with some flowers in them. I will try to post a picture later. She made the invitation list, planned the food and managed to keep it all a secret from her mom. If you know my wife this is no small feat. My wife is famous for snooping and finding out what her presents are ahead of time. She was one of those kids who liked to sneak into her parents closets before christmas to see what she was getting. Then she would tease her brother saying, "I know what your presents are!" Did I mention she has a fiesty streak. With that said, I have to say I am very proud of both of these ladies. Even though it was my wifes birthday I feel like I am the one who has the best gifts. My ladies! They are a blessing from God.

New Years Eve

Happy New Year!!! Last night we had our good friends the Fultz family and the Cloud family over along with our good friend Sandi Palmer. We just hung out and played games. It was really fun and relaxed. Of course there was a lot of food. I ate till I was stuffed. Which was a good thing because one of my New Year resolutions is to change my eating habbits. And now it is the new year so it is going to be a lot of veggies for me. I like veggies...I like veggies...I like veggies...I think I can...I think I can. Well good luck to everybody with your New Year Resolutions.

Blessings,

A long time

It has been a long time since I have posted. I just tend to get to busy to blog. I am on the computer all day at work and when I get home the last thing I want to do is to get on the computer. But with that said I have decided that I really need to journal. I think it is a great way to remind myself what I have been learning throught the year. So I am not going to make any promises because as we all know life happens but I am going to try really, really hard to be as consistant as I can be with my blogging.

I do have a couple new things I am working on. I am working on a recording project of my music. My buddy Andy and I have been saying that we should write some music and record it for a long time, so we decided that there is no time like the present. We have around 12 songs for this project. This is our first project and we are doing most of it in house. We have the equipment and we are using the gifts and talents of some close friends to help us with the design of the cover. I am pretty excited. We will begin recording within the next couple of weeks. I will keep you up to date.

Blessings,

My Buddy Allen

Most people have a person in their life that has helped them out along the way. A special person who encouraged and prayed for you when you were going through things. If you are real lucky you have more than one of these type of people in your life. One of the people in my life who encouraged me and help mentor me is my friend Allen. He is a great guy. Full of wisdom for his age. (however he will tell you he doesn't. I find it interesting how God brings people in and out of your life. In this way your life seems to change with each passing day. I also know that it is great to have people who you know you can call any time of the day or night and ask for them to pray for you or you can bounce things off of them. They are a rock in the middle of the raging sea. It brings me great comfort to see that God has brought these people into my life. I hope God has done that for you as well.

Blessings