Six Months Going On Seven

I know I havn't posted in a few weeks. I can't say things have been crazy on my end because it hasn't been. Everything seems to be going really well right now. I ended up with a B in my New Testament class and I am working on my Old Testament class now. Christy is still working. She has had a bit of a run in with one of the girls she works with. She finally quit so Christy should have an easier time at the Pre-school.

I registered for next semesters classes this week. I start out with Biology and finish the semester with Algebra. I was going to take a total of four classes next semester but I am not good at biology or algebra so I think I should just focus on one class at a time.

Bradley Vs Sweet Potatoes

Mickey's Basketball Game

Here is Mickey playing basketball. I am sorry for the view in the film. Christy had a hard time getting good shots because of all the people helping out with the players. I tell you what, these kids really have fun out there. Enjoy everyone.

Happy Halloween

I just thought I would get one more post in before the new month.

Happy Halloween everyone. Hey, aren't those pumpkins cool? I thought so, that's why I posted the picture.

Anyway, I will have a post of Mickeys basketball game up shortly, I still need to find a good song to go with basketball and do a bit of editing. I will also be posting some pictures of Mickey and Bradley in their Halloween costumes later this week. Christy and I are going to take the boys to the Harvest Festival at the church tonight. They do a really neat Trunk or Treat thing for the kids, a BBQ and live music too. Sounds like fun.

Also, I finished my first class at Grand Canyon University Online last Sunday. As I sit now, I have a B+, but the professor still has not posted the final grade with week eights assignment yet. I am hoping I can pull an A out of somewhere dark, dusty, and damp. For the final paper, I had to write a two thousand word essay on the movie, Passion of the Christ. The length of the paper was not too hard because, the professor had seven questions for us to answer and each question has at least one more question added to the original. Sounds hard? Well, it was. It took me all day. I went to church that morning, went home and started the paper, didn't get to go to Mickeys basketball game or the small group Christy and I go to.

On Monday, I started my new class, Old Testament History. We will see how this one goes. The good thing is, I am off of those six work days a week. Now I may have a bit more time to study and get my homework done. We will see. Anyway, just wanted to post an update.

The Light Is Near

The light at the end of the tunnel is near. The family has been a juggling act for three months. I could see Christy and I atop a ball, throwing our jobs, the kids, anything to do with church, and my school into the air and trying to catch everything and do it again. (Metaphorically speaking of course) Three months of this crazy circus, and now the light is near. So near in fact that this should be last week of six days a week.

To stick the fire a bit more, Christy, Mickey, and Bradley have been sick the past few weeks. I can add another log to the fire; Christy received a flue shot on Tuesday. Last night she came home from work with a fever. I told her, just go to bed; she did, and took care of the boys all night. Not a problem right?

Well, let me give you a run down of the night. Everything started Wednesday night. Christy wasn’t feeling good that night; Bradley couldn’t breathe so he was up five or six times that night. The next day, Christy came home and went to bed and I watched the boys. I watched the first game of the World Series; (very upset in the outcome of that one) put the boys to bed. (Bradley with a fight, of course) I was up until eleven o’clock writing a paper for school. Finally got to bed at midnight, then Bradley wakes me up three times.

I am not complaining about any of this, I just felt like I had to give you a bit of the back-story before I told you the real reason for this post. It all came down to this morning. Christy wakes up and feels horrible. She wants me to stay home; the problem is I can’t, so now she is even more miserable. Then, I try to help her out and get the boys ready so she wouldn’t have to. Now, here’s were it all turned from bad to worse. Instead of just going with the flow, (the smart path) I decide to be a bonehead.

She told me that she was going to take Mickey to school this morning. “OK, sounds good babe,” is what I should have said. However, nooooooo, I decide in my little head, to tell her she just needs to put him in the bus and go back to bed. Let’s just say that didn’t go well. Sorry Christy. I love you.

Mickey Plays T-Ball

A local physical therapy group in town put together a League of Dreams. Giving local kids with disabilities a chance to play sports they normally would not be able to play. Mickey had the chance to play t-ball this past summer. The video I took of the game is not that great. I didn't think I was going to have this blog at the time. But I did get him going around the bases and crossing home plate. Right now Mickey is getting the chance to play basketball. I forgot the video camera for his first game, but I will take some video at next Sundays game and post it too.

Bradley And His Jibber Jabber

A Quote

I read a blog from a Pastor in Portland. His name is Rick Mckinley. I really enjoy his insight on religion and he posts great book reviews. He is the pastor at Imago Dei church. Rick posted a great write-up about his Thoughts on the Emerging Church. I found a paragraph he had written interesting.

"There is much for us to learn from the dead men who are still speaking while we seek to find the theological truths that will be good news to our culture and their questions."

This is a great statement. I just wanted to post this for everyone to read. What do you think about this statement?

It's About Time

The unexpected has happened. My Rockies have finally won the National League Championship. They did it by winning their last twenty of twenty-one games.

I did a bit of researching on a few things. One of which was the payroll of a few of the teams in the majors. Take the Yankees (evil empire number one) with their 189.9 million dollar payroll and the Red Sox (evil empire number two) close behind with a 145.1 million dollar payroll. The Yankees were thrown out in the first round and the Sox are falling behind as of today. Then I looked at the Rockies and Indians purse. The Rockies are twenty-first in the league with 60.6 million dollars and the Tribe is sitting two spots atop the Rockies at number nineteen with 67.8 million. Now I am not saying that the Rockies or Indians will win the series, no one knows the future. However I will say this, it just goes to show that you can't buy the pennant. Just because you pay a player whatever they want doesn't mean you can go out and expect to win it all.

Something else I found to be interesting. Looking at the extended roster of the Rockies, they have forty-five players. Of course, they don't take all of them through to the post season. However, out of that pool of players, thirty-three of those players have five years or less experience in the majors. Of that thirty-three, nine of them are rookies. I took that a bit further and looked at the active roster for the playoffs. They take twenty-five players into the playoffs and out of those, nineteen have five years or less and of those nineteen, sixteen have three years or less in the majors.

All I am saying is this:
One, I am ecstatic that the Rockies made the World Series.
Two, they did it with a very young team.
Three, you don't have to have deep pockets to win the pennant.

And last but not least....

IT'S ROCKTOBER BABY!!!!!!

Five Months Now

It has been five months. I can't believe how fast the time goes. It seems like just last week we were bringing Bradley home from the hospital. I hope that everyone has been following along with the pictures and videos of Bradley. If not, just click the links pictures, videos, or Bradley. Clicking on Bradley will bring up everything on one page.

Anyway, Christy has a friend at the pre-school she is teaching at that is a Photographer. They mainly take wedding pictures, but now they want to start getting into other photo genres. She asked Christy if she could take pictures of Mickey and Bradley. They posted the pictures on their web page. I will give you the link in a minute. The pictures look great and we will be getting a bunch. If you would like some, just let me know and Christy and I will get them for you. They want to use one of the pictures of Bradley they took for their new business card. If I remember correctly, Christy said something about us taking family pictures soon. We may use one for a family holiday card type thing too.

Here is the link to Digital Magic.

Bradley Takes A Bite

Bradley takes his first bite from a spoon.

Pieces

I have been trying to find some other songs to post the lyrics to. RED has one album out at the moment. I'm telling you, if good Christian rock music is what you like, buy this CD. If you buy this album, you will not be disappointed, I guarantee it. Anyway, there are some really good songs on the CD, one that stands out for me is number six, Pieces. Here are the lyrics.

I’m here again

A thousand miles away from you

A broken mess

Just scattered pieces of who I am

I tried so hard

Thought I could do this on my own

I’ve lost so much along the way

Then I see your face

I know I’m finally yours

I find everythingI thought I lost before

You call my name

I come to you in pieces

So you can make me whole

I’ve come undone

But you make sense of who I am

Like puzzle pieces in your hand

When I see your face

I know I’m finally yours

I find everything

I thought I lost before

You call my name

I come to you in pieces

So you can make me whole

I tried so hard

So hard

I tried so hard

Work, Work, Work

Well, it hasn't slowed down around the house yet. Sometimes I feel like time is like the clocks in the picture. It's all going so fast that even the clocks are getting tired.

Last week our landlord had a new roof put on the house. That was three days of noise. I started my six days a week on Monday. I found out that I will be on this schedule until the beginning of November.

Somewhere in this new work schedule, I have to find some time to get all of my readings and homework done on time. The way it's set up with the online courses, I have a discussion question that I have to answer on Thursday, and another one on Saturday. Then I have a paper I have to write that is due by Sunday night. That's it, every week for eight weeks and then the class is over. Also, don't forget the two or three chapters in my textbook and the the readings in my Bible I have to finish before I can start to do the work each week. I know, it doesn't sound all that bad, really not much work involved... on my normal work schedule. I have three days off every week to get the work done. Now, I don't have that and it is going to be this way until the end of the class.

If someone has any idea how I can get two more hours out of those sad looking clocks in the picture, please let me know. I think I need it.

Bradley At 4 Months

I thought instead of posting a bunch of pictures, I would post a short video. Here you go. Enjoy.

One of those weeks

Well, it was one of those weeks. You know what I am talking about, the week that nothing seems to go right. The one where everything seems just fifteen degrees off. Yeah, we had one of those weeks. It started on Saturday night. I felt great, Christy and I had decided to go to the Saturday night service at church. The church had a guy speaking that was the MC for Promise Keepers in Fresno last month. I wanted to go here him speak so, Mikey was off with his grandparents and we dropped Bradley off the the infant care at the church.

We went to the sanctuary to listen to the speaker, Rick Rigsby. He spoke for a little over an hour. He is amazing, I hope that if anyone has a chance to see him speak they take it.

Then, Sunday comes around. I am changing the oil in the cars when I hear from Christy that Mickey has the Chicken Pocks. I finish with the cars and a little while to the evening, Mickey has an accident involving his potty seat. I am not going to go into detail here, but let me say that it involved a trip to the ER. Everything turns out okay there, but Tuesday has yet to rear its head. Tuesday and Wednesday, all in all, turns out to be okay. The only real problems I had on those two days was trying to take care of both kids, watch Mickeys band aid, and try to get my home work done. Thursday, I had to go to work, but I came home because I felt sick. Sure enough, head cold hits that nigh, but not before Mickey as to go back into the ER to get his bandage fixed up.

I am glad to report that today has been a good day. I feel better, chores are done, Mickey is doing better and I have been able to work on homework. Now the only thing I am facing is the fact that I am going back on six days a week at work until my boss finds someone to hire in the new position opposite me. Well, wish us all luck in the coming weeks.

Here It Is

I had a hard time finding the elusive DV Cable needed to transfer video from my camera to my computer. I looked everywhere for this little jewel. I finally found it at Radio Shack. Let me tell you. If you are looking for any accessory for anything at all. You will find it at Radio Shack.

So now, without further delay, I give you my first video. I chose this video because I told our friend Katy that we had wished she could have been there. But, she lives is Texas of all places and missed the event. So, I told her that we would record Bradley's dedication so she could see it. Well here it is. Enjoy everyone.

Harry Potter

I am not what you call a big reader. At least before the last two years. In school, I hated to read. I couldn't even get through a book that was required reading. It took along time before I really started to enjoy reading. A friend of mine gave me the first Harry Potter book, The Sorcerer's Stone. I have to admit, I didn't want to read it.

I started as soon as I got out of bed one morning. That way, if the book was bad, I wasn't wasting a day. Needless to say, I was done with the book that evening. I just couldn't put it down. You could really tell it was a children's book. It had a simple feel to it.

Lucky for me, when I started reading the books, the first six were already out in stores. So, I started reading the books. I was happy to see as I went on, that Rowling's started to write the books for a more adult audience. I read the first four books rather fast. I finished the fifth book as the movie came out this last July. I just got through the sixth book this last weekend. If you have not yet read these books, I recommend you do. They are well written with plenty of adventure. I just started the last book in the series yesterday. I will post about it when I am done. It may take me a bit longer to finish, seeing as though I have to balance school reading with reading of pleasure.

Bradley

This last Sunday, Christy and I, had the honor of dedicating Bradley to our Lord Jesus Christ, in front of our family and congregation. I could not have asked for it to go any better. We had our friend and Worship Pastor Mark Kounter do the dedication. I think some of our family took pictures, and I had my Brother-In-Law shoot some video. I will post all of that when I get the chance. I need to get a DV Cable for my camcorder so that I can transfer the video to my computer. I just want to thank our friends and family that prayed for everything to go well, the amazing Mark Kounter for doing everything he has done not only for me, but for my family as well, and our Lord Jesus for taking Bradley into his heart as he does so well.

School!!!

Well, it is official. I started school today. Although, it doesn't feel like I did, mainly because I don't go to "school" so to speak. Taking classes online is like getting exited about a package you are going to get in the mail, then waking up the next morning and remembering you got it yesterday and it is sitting on the table. No climactic anything. No, hustle and bustle, no new faces... nothing.

I can't complain. I don't have to worry about finding my class in time, fighting crowds, or trying to kick someone out of a chair that is mine because I am in the class and they are crashing the class. Man I hated those first couple days of school. All I have to do is sit down in my living room, turn on my laptop, connect to the Internet, and check my online student portal. Easy peasy, lemon squeazy.

One think however, that does tend to suck is the fact that you don't have a bookstore that you can run to after class when you realize you forgot to buy a book. Guess what, I did that. I found my books through the schools online book store. There were two books listed. One was the text book, the other was a Bible. (for those who do not know, I am taking a New Testament History class, hence the Bible) I thought to myself... "self, you already have a great study Bible, you don't need to buy this one." Guess what, I did need to buy that one. I downloaded my course syllabus this morning and sure enough, I needed it. I picked up my other book Saturday. But now, I will not get the Bible until Wednesday.

Man I hate that. Oh well, I guess that is what I get for thinking.

All Around Me

Here is another song I really like. This one is from Flyleaf's self titled album. All Around Me is a great song that illustrates the feeling you get when you accomplish a personal relationship with god. Here are the lyrics:

My hands are searching for you

My arms are outstretched towards you

I feel you on my fingertips

My tongue dances behind my lips for you

This fire rising through my being

Burning I'm not used to seeing you

I'm alive, I'm alive

I can feel you all around me

Thickening the air I'm breathing

Holding on to what I'm feeling

Savoring this heart that's healing

My hands float up above me

And you whisper you love me

And I begin to fade

Into our secret place

The music makes me sway

The angels singing say we are alone with you

I am alone and they are too with you

And so I cry

The light is white

And I see you

Take my hand

I give it to you

Now you owe me

All I am

You said you would never leave me

I believe you

I believe

TOMS Shoes

I ran across this amazing organization the other day. It is called TOMS Shoes. I wanted to tell everyone about it. Then I found a You Tube video. So here it is, check this out.

I want everyone to buy a pair...or four. I am going to buy a pair for everyone in my family. That is right, even Bradley. They make Mens, Womens, and even Tiny Toms. For 40$ you can have an new, comfortable pair of shoes, and give a new comfortable pair of shoes to a child in a third world country that has never had a shoes before.

Putting Church Into Perspective

One of the blogs that I read is called brokenstainedglass.com. On August 20th, Briggs posted a blog that helps us understand just how much we may take our church life for granted. He posted a quote from a pastor in India talking about dedication:

"Because of the extreme cold we often get sick. When the weather is bad and we don't have warm clothing, it is difficult for us to go outdoors for ministry. We wrap ourselves with thick blankets, which we also use for sleeping. We don't have frequent bus transportation, so we have to walk 11 miles a day for outreach. Even the believers walk 7 miles to attend the worship service..."

Briggs goes on to ask one simple question, "If you had to walk seven miles to church every Sunday would you do it?"

Now, before you answer, read the quote again. Now, what would you do?

Plain White T's

This bad has been around for a few years now. Now, if you listen to the radio, I am sure you have heard their song ''Hey There Delilah." A while back, Christy asked me if I had heard it. She tried to explain the song, but I had no idea what she was talking about. I don't listen to the radio, at all. I hate all the overkill and commercials. But, that is for another blog post some time. Anyway, I finally heard the song the other day, only because the guys at work listen to XM Satellite Radio. I didn't think the song was too bad. I looked up the lyrics.

I am going to start doing this a lot. I love music. I listen to wide range in genres. So I thought I would start posting the lyrics. Some of the songs have really good lyrics.

Here are the lyrics to Hey There Delilah:

Hey there Delilah

What's it like in New York City?

I'm a thousand miles away

But girl tonight you look so pretty

Yes you do

Time Square can't shine as bright as you

I swear it's true

Hey there Delilah

Don't you worry about the distance

I'm right there if you get lonely

Give this song another listen

Close your eyes

Listen to my voice it's my disguise

I'm by your side

Oh it's what you do to me

What you do to me

Hey there Delilah

I know times are getting hard

But just believe me girl

Someday I'll pay the bills with this guitar

We'll have it good

We'll have the life knew we would

My word is good

Hey there Delilah

I've got so much left to say

If every simple song I wrote to you

Would take your breath away

I'd write it all

Even more in love with me you'd fall

We'd have it all

A thousand miles seems pretty far

But they've got planes and trains and cars

I'd walk to you if I had no other way

Our friends would all make fun of use

and we'll just laugh along because we know

That none of them have felt this way

Delilah I can promise you

That by the time we get through

The world will never ever be the same

and you're to blame

Hey there Delilah

You be good and don't you miss me

Two years and you'll be done with school

And I'll be making history like I do

You'll know it's all because of you

We can do whatever we want to

Hey there Delilah here's to you

This ones for you

PK 07

What a great weekend. I don't think I could have asked for anything better. Going up to Fresno is not what I would call a lot of fun. However, if you can go up there with a great think in mind. Fresno isn't really that bad. So, after only about hour and half in the car with some guys, we were parking in the Save Mart Center parking lot. The Friday night part of the show went from about 7:30 until 11:30. They had two speakers during that four hour block along with the host of the conference and the Worship band. One of the speakers was a guy named Bob Cornuke. This guy is the original "Indiana Jones". He found the four anchors from the Shipwreck of Paul. I bought a couple of his books and had him sign them. The other speaker was a comedian. His name was Brad Stine. All I can say about this man is phenomenal. He has a very in your face type of comedy. Not something you see normally in a Christian comedian.

Friday night the conference, instead of staying in a hotel, all of the guys from the church brought sleeping bags and we slept in one of the churches there in Fresno. I have to say, the older you get, the harder it is to sleep on the floor. I think I should have taken my dads advise and brought a pad to sleep on.

We got up Saturday morning, had some breakfast, and made our way to the second half of the conference. This half was more of the same. Speakers, and lots of Worship. Brad Stine did another set too. We all left about one o'clock. Everyone seemed to be on cloud nine. All in all the entire weekend was amazing. I when with some great guys and had a blast. I just want to say thank you to Mark and Richard for a great trip. I hope you had as much fun as I did.

Weekend Away!!

I found this picture the other day. That is too funny. I thought I would use it with this post. I am leaving for the Promise Keepers tomorrow morning. I am going with a few guys from the church. I have to say thank you to Mike and Marilyn (Christy's mom dad) for buying my ticket. This should be a great weekend. It does help that I should be at work through the weekend. I will post after I get back with how it turns out.

I also want to add a couple other things. One, I still have not received the final word on school yet. I am getting a bit impatient. Class starts September 3rd and I need to get my books ordered. Have I ever mentioned that I hate to wait. Yeah, really hate to wait.

And the last thing. I have a friend of mine, Damon. He is writing a book, Dark Angel. he posts a new chapter every month. I have been reading along with the posts. I have to say, really good. I think he has something with this little endeavor. Follow that link and check it out. I think you will like it.

Velvet Elvis

I just finished this one. Velvet Elvis is the first book Rob Bell wrote. It is a book about Repainting The Christian Faith. I would recommend it to anyone. If you are trying to find your faith, already have your faith, or just want to read something about faith. This is the book for you.

Rob uses an old painting of Elvis he has in his basement as the inspiration for this book. Here is snippet from the introduction.

I am learning that what seems brand new is often the discovery of something that's been there all along- it just got lost somewhere and it needs to be picked up, dusted off, and reclaimed. I am learning that I come from a tradition that has wrestled with the deepest questions of human existence for thousands of years. I am learning that my tradition includes the rabbis and reformers and revolutionaries and monks and nuns and pastors and writers and philosophers and artists and every person everywhere who has asked big questions of a big God. Welcome to my Velvet Elvis.

The whole book was great. It was a quick read, and that is saying something coming from me. I think a snail could slid its way through a marathon before I could... well, I think you get the point.

I See A Clearing

Well, I know it has been a while sense my last post. Going into the last week, I had six days off coming to me. Lets just say, I didn't get six days off.

The all started on Friday. It was Christys birthday. That afternoon, we sent the kids off to their grandmas and grandpas and went to dinner. Christy wanted to go have a steak. We went to Tahoe Joes and spent more money on dinner than I have ever spent. Just shy of one hundred bucks... for two people. I can't complain, she had fifty of that covered with a gift from her mom and dad. Thanks guys. After dinner, we went to see I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. I have to say, everyone needs to go see that movie. It was one of the funniest movies I have seen in a long time.

Saturday morning comes around, and I turn over and kiss my wife and wish her a happy anniversary. That's right, our one year was August 11th. See, I was smart, I made sure that the two most important dates I have to remember right next to each other. Now I can't forget them. For Christy's birthday I got her the movie Hot Fuzz. If you ever saw Shaun of the Dead, you will love this movie. We got up and and went to breakfast, then came home and watched Hot Fuzz. After that, Bradley came home.

Sunday morning, we went to church. Right after church I had to go build a fence. That's right, build a fence. The fence took the rest of Sunday and all day Monday. I didn't get home until ten o'clock Monday night. I does look amazing if I do say so myself. Then, Tuesday and Wednesday Christy had to work, so I stayed home with the kids. Just let me say, I love to be with boys, but after that week I just had, I was so tired I could barley stay awake.

Now that the week is coming to an end, I can see a bit of rest coming. I still have to work through the weekend, but I don't mind. I have Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday off next week. I go back to work on Thursday, then I have Friday and Saturday off. I am going to Promise Keepers in Fresno with a group of guys from church. It should be a lot of fun. I will let you know when I get back.

The Bonds Home Run... Sorry, I Had To

There it is, the asterisk. The one think standing in the way of anyone wanting to set a new record in sports. I know, I'm a little late to be jumping on this bandwagon. I am going into this post completely aware of that. I know everyone has been talking about this from the day McGuire hit his big home run.

The other day I was reading through one of my favorite blogs, Burnside Writers Blog. I found a post written by Aaron Donley called The Shrinking of Our Heroes. Here is a little something he wrote.

"frankly, I can’t tell you how incredibly disappointed I am with the whole situation. You see, as a youngster I’m thankful I had the opportunity to have positive role models. Legends you could watch and look up too with admiration, hoping someday to mimic if even a bit of their greatness in your own life. True greats you would watch over and over again in slow motion replays of their glory days with glossy eyed admiration for their personal determination and fortitude. Yet today, I’m afraid my own son will not have the same opportunity I had to view such untainted greatness."

It really got me thinking about this whole asterisk business. After reading Aarons blog, two phrases stand out to me; positive role models and untainted greatness. Let us take the first one for a minute and elaborate. Positive role model means just that, positive. Why would any parent, in there right mind, want to let their kids watch people like Bonds on TV. You are basically sending the message that you think it is okay for people to use steroids to enhance their personal performance. I go out of my way to change the channel when Bonds is on. I don't care if it is a highlight clip, a game, or a commercial. He doesn't get airtime in my house.

I don't care if Bonds said he didn't use enhancement drugs. He did or still does and that is all there is to it. I'm sorry, you don't go from hitting 49 home runs in one season to 72 in the next without a bit of help. Sure, he hasn't hit more that 46 in seasons following 2001. However, if you remember, promptly after his 72 home runs he went under investigation for enhancement drug use. I will just leave it at that.

Which leads me to the other point, untainted greatness. There will never be anyone greater in the history of sports than the Babe Ruths and Hank Aarons'. They achieved their records with what God gave them, not with performance enhancement vitamins, shakes and drugs. No matter how much effort is put into it, greatness will never follow tainted.

So I say, yes, hats off to you Barry Bonds. I am sure you worked very hard for your achievements. But, you will never be the heroic legend of the great Hank Aaron.

He's Three Months

Sex God

Okay, stop! No that is not what this book is about. Now, pick your mind up out of the gutter.

I just finished this book, written by Rob Bell. Exploring the endless connections between sexuality and spirituality is the concept of the book. I must say, this is a great book. I would recommend this book to anyone. With chapters like; God Wears Lipstick; Leather, Whips, and Fruit; and Whoopee Forever, you can see why your mind might run in the direction of the gutter.

And no, it is not that type of book. Here is a definition of the book from the introduction by the author:

"Because this is really about that. It's always about something else. Something deeper. Something behind it all. You can't talk about sexuality without talking about how we were made. And that will inevitably lead you to who made us. At some point you have to talk about God. Sex. God. They're connected. And they can't be separated. Where the one is, you will always find the other. This is a book about how sexuality is the 'this' and spirituality is the 'that'. To make sense of the one, we have to explore the other. And that is what this book is about."

All in all, this is a remarkable book and suggest everyone read it. It has a great deal of scripture that he breaks down rather well. Also, Rob teaches a good deal of Greek work definitions that are used in the bible.

Road Blocks Suck

I tell you what, it never fails. Every time I try getting a bit closer to completing the enrollment process at Grand Canyon, something else comes up. I just want to go back to school. Everything was running along great until I hit a snag. I had been wanting the company to send the money they would send me for tuition reimbursement, directly to the school. Not a bad idea if you ask me, it would cut out the middle man. The company won't do that. All of the money has to come to me, then I have to send it to the school. Okay, that is fine. Not a big problem. Hold it, yes, that is a problem. Seeing that I don't have an extra $1125.00 every two months, I have to take out student loans to cover the tuition. Now, that money from the student loan gets sent to the school. Then after the class, I have to submit my tuition reimbursement so that the company will send the money to me. Then I have to send that money to Sallie Mae to pay off the loan I withdrew two months earlier.

Now I ask this small question. Does that sound logical in any way? I think not.

So, the saga continues in my quest to inch this little butt of mine back to school.

A Great Ethics Question

There is a blog that I like to read written by a guy named Kevin. His blog page is the one that I found the blograte thing on. His post today, asked a very good ethics question. I wanted to share it with you. Here it is:

"One of your best friends has struggled with alcholism, but has been clean for 2 years. He is a Christian, and has just recently starting getting drunk again. Your desire is to once again walk closely with him and try to help him. The elders in your church are asking that you disassociate from him because he is defaming the name of Christ with his behavior (he has been warned of this step if he fell again). What are you going to do? Are you going to follow your heart, and walk with your friend? Doing so will result in willfully defying your spiritual authority under the covering of your leaders. Will you obey your leaders and disassociate from your friend? Doing so will result in breaking your conscious about what you should do for your friend. What do you do?"

So, I post this blog as a question to everyone. What would you do in this situation? Leave me comment and let me know. I will post my decision a bit later.

Okay Then...

Well, I guess this proves my boring factor.

Am I truly this boring or am I imagining it.

Here We Go

Well, I start school in September. I know... school. I have been thinking about it for a while now. Not only do I want to go back, I need to go back.

Everything I was thinking about lead right back to good ol' education. For instance, there is work. The state of California is in a feeding frenzy when it comes to coal power plants. It just doesn't look good for the distant future at this point. With that in mind, I started to think about where I saw myself in the distant future. Let me just say, it didn't look good.

Then I thought about going back to school. I already have all of my general education out of the way. I could start in on core classes right off the get go. Then I remembered, the company pays for all of my tuition. Well, now I am in. I start searching for an online school. Lets face it, there is no way I would have the time to attend on-campus classes. I found a few hopefuls, Capella University looked good. The company even has them on a list of recommended schools. University of Phoenix is out, I hate them. Then I found another college in Phoenix, Grand Canyon University. I know what you are thinking, because I was thinking the same thing. Sound a bit second rate. Well, after a small amount of reading, I found out that they were not second rate, but first rate. Needless to say, I picked GCU as my college of choice.

Going back the tuition assistance, the company will only pay for "work related" degrees. Because of this rule, I am very sad to report, the Bachelor of Arts in Basket Weaving is out. So, I am going with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing. I have always liked business but with more of an emphasis in Advertising. Being a sign man for so long, that sort of happens. Unfortunately, there is not a degree for that, so I am going with Marketing.

So, wish me luck, I am the worlds best procrastinator when it comes to school work.

The Two Month Comparison

My mom put Bradley in the shirt that I had at two months and took a picture of him. I don't think the picture of me is the best one to look at when comparing use at the same age. My mom had another that is even closer. I don't know, what you guys think? Anyway, I must say that there are two good looking studs there.

Bradley's Smile

The Past Week

A few thing to talk about from this past week. Christy and I took Mickey to see Transformers last Monday. I only have one word to say, impressive. The movie was great, I was very impressed. They did a great job using existing structures and buildings (like the Hoover Dam) to tell the story. If you have not yet seen it, I recommend you do.

Christy and I also went to see the new Harry Potter. Although it was good, I feel the Transformers movie was much better. One of the reasons is because the book had some much information that you could not possibly put everything into a two hour movie. Because of this reason, if you read the book, the movie jumped forward many times. The story jumped through to the middle of the book in just the first half hour. aside from that, the movie was great. A lot more fighting with the spells and wands, and much darker than the last four. I do recommend this movie as well.

One last thing. My birthday was on the 17th. It was good. I went out for a round of Golf with the music pastor at church. I have to say, for a man that said he has only played a few times, he did really well. After the round, I went home and relaxed for the rest of the day. Then yesterday, we went over to my mom and dads and had dinner. My birthday was nice and relaxing. Just how I like to have it.

The New Word... Missional

There are a few blogs that I enjoy reading. One of them is owned by a pastor in Washington State. He had a post this morning that made me think back to the way I felt about Christianity, and Church in general. To be completely honest, I never really like the thought either one. There was just something about the way Christians carried themselves or tried to preach to you when you weren't interested. All of that just made me really uncomfortable.

Then I meet my beautiful wife, Christy. She likes to call herself a Jesus Freak. Yet, with all the love she has for Him, she never seamed to push it on me. I had the same experience with my friend Brian. When we were in high school, he ask about my belief only once. I told him how I felt about it and he let it alone.

Looking back, that was my biggest problem with religion. It seemed like everyone I had ever come in contact with, that was religious in some way, tried to shove their story at me. Always telling me that I should live this way or that way, and to stay away from how I was living.

Anyway, back to the post I had mentioned earlier. This pastor was talking about new words that we seem to come up with for religious purposes. New words that describe what we are doing. The word Missional was the one he was discussing. He also mentioned that, seeing as though it is a new word, there are a lot of definitions for Missional. In his search to trying and find a good definition, he came across this one in a blog from a twenty-three year olds' web site.

Here it is:

I have been lucky to have met some really amazing people in the past few years. I met them in a bar/ at a party/ through friends. They live their lives without excuses and without gimmicks. They build relationships not hoping to sucker you in but out of genuine interest in who you are. They are your friends because they want to be, not because they have to. And, unless you bring it up, they don't talk about being a "Christian" much. This doesn't stop you from knowing that they are, you do. You can tell by the way they lead their lives. But they never force it on you. It's refreshing and honest and exactly what "Christianity" should look like. When I think of the word "Christian" I think of them.

That is how I felt with Christy and with Brian. I knew they were both religious and yet they never really pushed anything to me. They let me start to pull. Instead of them trying to push. I just hope that I can do the same with new people I come in contact with throughout my walk with Christianity.

You Never Hear Anything About It

I waited and waited, and then waited some more. In the end, there was nothing. I know, that is what happens when you expect the unexpected. But, I must say, these are the Nation's best men to ever run the pitch. (soccer field for those who didn't know) I am talking about the US Men's National soccer team.

There was a tournament last month that most of the US never knew about. Let me tell you, it was obvious no one knew. There was very little news, if any, in the papers or on TV. This tournament I speak of was the CONCACAF Gold Cup. For those who don't know what that stands for, here it is. Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football.

Our boys defended their cup title by winning again this year for their fourth cup victory. They played great, not loosing a game in the contest. They didn't even give up a goal until the quarter-final game against Panama in a 2-1 victory. Playing Canada in the semi-final game, came out on top 2-1. In the Championship game, they played Mexico and won with yet another 2-1 victory. Our boys only gave away three goals in the entire six game competition. Also in those six game, they scored thirteen times. That is the most goals scored out of the twelve team pool.

I would have to say that the worst part about the news coverage for this tournament is the fact that every game played, took place in the US. That's right, every last game, all twenty five of them. To make matters worse, all of the games were played in big venues. I am not talking about a big stadium somewhere off the beaten path. I am talking about high traffic stadiums like, the Orange Bowl, Home Depot Center, (home of the LA Galaxy and Chivas USA) Meadowland, (home of the New York Giants) Solder Field, (home of the Chicago Bear) and Reliant Stadium. (home of the Houston Texans) These are major venues we are talking about. The only TV coverage in the US was Fox Soccer Channel. Even if you have cable, you still didn't get to see the action. To get FSC, you have to have the most expensive cable or satellite packages.

Now, I know it isn't the World Cup, but come on. This our National team we are talking about. You would think big broadcast companies in the US would want to so something. Soccer (futbol) is the largest and most popular sport in the world. The US is becoming much more aware of the presents it is making. But the bad thing is, coverage of this beautiful game is hideously scares. It is a shame, because let me tell you, the US missed watching their boys dominate the competition.

Try To Remember.... Please

I know, it's hard to think of anything other than fireworks during the forth of July. The thought of is sparked (sorry, no pun intended) back into memory during the last week of June. We see all of the make-shift wooden stands going up on what seems like every street corner.

Then, the thoughts start flowing through your brain. "What is new this year, I need to get those screaming ones and the flowers too." That's what goes through every ones mind every year, fireworks, fireworks, fireworks. I am not saying they are bad. I enjoy watching them any chance I get.

Here is the problem, I believe we have lost sight of the true meaning behind July forth. It has nothing to do with fireworks. Come on, think back to your history classes. Yes, that's it, Independence Day. For seventeen days, Thomas Jefferson put his heart and soul into crafting the Declaration of Independence. June eleventh through June twenty-eighth, then on July forth Congress adopted the Declaration.

Our forefathers committed treason by creating and sighing the Declaration. They put their lives on the line to create independence for generations to come. We have a responsibility as those following generations to appreciate and remember what has been done in the past to create freedom. Whether you thank our forefathers, or the veterans and troops fighting in the war, now or a past conflict; The celebrations of the day should not be for your selfish entertainment.

Instead of fireworks, fireworks, fireworks; Shouldn't we be saying remember, remember, remember. I believe we should. Use the fireworks to give that appreciation to whom it is due and not to yourself. And to Thomas Jefferson and the rest of Congress, and all of our veterans and troop over seas, I say Thank You.

~ GOD bless American and everyone involved in fighting for the freedom to have a day to celebrate freedom ~

Under God

A good friend at work told me about this book, Under God. It was written by Toby Mac and Michael Tait of DC Talk. Both gentlemen have also written two other books, Jesus Freaks and Jesus Freaks II.

The reason I picked up this book was because I like history. Let me tell you, this book is full of it. Under God is full of historical stories that were taken out of school history books in the 1940's. Yes that's right, taken out of the history books. Why? do you ask. Well, look at the title again and you tell me, "Under God".

All of the stories have to do with the historical figures of this beautiful country, and their Christian beliefs. Ripped out of educational books because some fat bureaucrats seem to think that anything religious needs to be taken from schools all together.

This country was founded on our forefathers Christian beliefs. In a short story about the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Samuel Adams said, "We have this day restored the Sovereign, to Whom alone men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and... from the rising to the setting sun, may His Kingdom come." In a small fact, written in the book, it states that on December 4, 1800, Congress decided that the Capital would also serve as a church building. That fact is on record in the Annal of Congress (anyone in this country has access to that document if they do not believe men) and confirmed in the journals of various representatives and senators.

In fact, John Quincy Adams recorded on October 30, 1803 that, "religious service is usually performed on Sunday at the Treasury office and the Capital."

I don't know how many times I have read or heard that some group is trying to take something about God out of the schools or government. EXCUSE ME!!!!! The country was founded on the religious belief in God and Christianity, and it needs to stay that way. All of this stupid debate on taking the Pledge of Allegiance out of the schools because it has the words "Under God". Just because someone doesn't believe in God, does not mean that he or she has the right to take that belief away from someone else.

Hey Look I'm Six Weeks Old

Bradley and Aunt Becky

I think I have had enough of the flash thankyou very much.

Me and big brother Mickey

Bradley's First Month

Bradley at day one

Bradley and Mickey

Bradley and Mom

Nothing more soothing than a soothie

Family Pictures

I will be using this space under the label "Pictures" on the left, to post family pictures and any new pictures of Bradley. I have a feeling there is going to be a lot more pictures of Bradley being posted. (seeing as though he is the newbey in the family, and a stud I might add) But, I will try to keep new pictures of everyone updated as much as possible.

A New Direction

I have been trying to come up with something to write. I have decided to hit the main points for this inaugural post. If you are in my family, you know that I had a blog spot already. I wanted to start over, go in a new direction. If you are new to my blog, then I guess you don't have to worry about that.

To start with, just a small refresher to get up to speed. My beautiful wife Christina brought a baby boy in to the world on May 10, 2007. Bradley is amazing, and a stud if I do say so myself. Our oldest, Mickey, is on his summer brake. He doesn't have as long of a brake as other kids because of the year-round schedule. He still hasn't caught on yet. Christy started her new job at Starbucks a few weeks ago. From what I can tell, she is really enjoying her time there. She does still have the before work jitters but, comes home exited (most likely from the high levels of coffee consumption). Everything is back to normal at work. Well, as far as my insane schedule is concerned. We came off our annual shutdown and I fell right back into my four tens.

Now that history is done, I can head to the future. Not much planned right now. My birthday is in less than a month and Christy will still be older than me. (Sorry babe, but it was right there, I had to) Christy has her birthday in August. Also, we are coming up on our one year anniversary. We are going to Paso Robles and Pismo Beach for that August weekend. Christy has never been wine tasting so I thought it would be fun for her. Besides, wine is lovely and Paso wine is awesome!

So, all in all, life is running as smooth as life runs... like a pothole filled dirt road after a Colorado Winter.