A Decade to Remember

I started thinking today that this decade might end up being the most eventful of my life. I got married, had a kid, went to college, moved around and had the opportunity to see quite a bit of the US and a few other countries. My roots are pretty well established here in Washington now and I don't see myself moving anytime soon. So I have compiled a few highlights of the past 10 years.

2000

College Student at Liberty University in Virginia

Worked at Holiday Inn Select doing Room Service

Moved back Home to TN to work as a Landscaper and Waiter at Applebees

Joined the King’s Players to Travel Around the Country doing Christian Drama in Churches, Schools and Prisons –Visited around 30 States and Tijuana

Started Dating Laura Corns

2001

Sold my guitar to move to California

Worked at Nabisco slinging Oreos onto Store Shelves

Married Laura on December 15^th

Moved to Bellflower down the street from the Prisoner Exchange

2002

Took a few Community College Courses with Laura

Started working at Keebler as a Territory Manager

Worked with Youth and Led Worship at Grace Baptist Church

Started Playing Golf

2003

Laura graduated College from Cal State Long Beach

Moved to Lynnwood WA to work with First Baptist Church of Martha Lake as Youth Directors

Started working at All for Kidz as a Booking Rep

Bought our First Condo

Became a Professional Yoyo Man/Motivational Speaker

Bought my first new Car – Saturn Vue

2004

Performed at the White House for the Easter Egg Roll

Performed in England and Canada and all across the US as a Yoyo Man

Visited France for a few hours and the airport in Amsterdam

Got our first Dog – Indy (She Bit People)

Kicked out of First Baptist Church

Started going to the Rock Church and working with Youth

2005

Almost moved to Texas to work with the Yoyo Company – Instead decided to quit and have a better marriage

Started working at the Rock Church as the Children’s Director

Started working at Crown Bolt as a Merchandiser in Home Depot Stores

Indy kept biting people, so we had to put her down and we got Beast the Bichon

2006

Sold the Condo and Bought a House with a Mother in Law Apartment and In-Laws moved in

Started working at Cintas as a Service Sales Representative

Started taking Annual Camping trips with the Barrans and other great friends at Rasar State Park

Started Taking Online Classes from Valley Forge Christian College (Children’s Ministry University)

Laura was in two accidents in less than a month that pretty much totaled all cars involved. She came out relatively unharmed

We got Phoenix – the greatest dog ever

2007

Vacation House in Orcas Island with Great Friends

Laura started working at the Rock Church as well

First Trip to Hawaii

2008

May 30^th – Our First Child Carver was Born

Many Trips to the Hospital

Family Reunion Trip to Hawaii

Vacation House in Camano Island

Starting Working at Gold Creek Community Church on Sunday Nights

2009

Memorial Day Camping Trip

Softball Tournaments

Orcas Island Vacation House

10 Year High School Reunion

Jason Haggard Wedding Trip to Tennessee

Victoria BC Anniversary Trip with Laura

life's muddy

To be as vague as possible, this past week has been tough. My last post was about feeling dead and I haven't felt so hopeful lately. I am just a sinful rotten person and it is only by God's grace that I am here today. Right now life is muddy and hope seems dim. At the same time, I am surrounded by people who have muddy lives as well. To often, we put on some type of front to those around us when inside we are writhing in pain or hurt. I am really thankful for those in my life who have extended out their ears and hearts to meet me where I am. I haven't opened myself to them all, but I hope and desire to. I don't want to trudge through crap alone. I need some help. I write all this to say - Be that friend to someone today.

Dead inside...

A few times a month I get together with friends from our church for our life group. We talk about life and God and how to make it through the day. We normally watch a video with some discussion questions, but we were out a babysitter so we talked about how we have changed since high school. It’s been a little over 10 years for me and life is completely different. I’ve lived in 4 different states, traveled all over the place with work and have been married for almost 8 years and have a 1.5 year old son. In high school I was very passionate and had some pretty strong convictions on a lot of things and I became quite legalistic in my beliefs. My passions were strong just a little misguided sometimes. Imagine that, a misguided teenager. My convictions aren’t quite as strong now and I am not so sure that’s a good thing. I still have many of the same struggles, but inside I feel dead. I see where I am and who I want to be and feel lost. I’m frustrated and I am hurting those I am closest to. Something needs to change and I want to revive the passion that I had before. I want it guided in the right direction.

Do you feel valued?

Many of you know that I have two jobs. One pays the bills and one is my passion. I am so fortunate to have both of these and have a few days a week to just be daddy. Most of the time I work hard and it always feels great to see the results of hard work. But there is something deep inside most of us that wants something more than just to see the results for yourself. We want to feel valued. We want to feel appreciated. I want to feel valued. I want to be appreciated. Part of me wants to say it's a weakness, but at the same time I recognize that this is the way God has wired me. In my life and careers I see both sides of the spectrum of value.
The Rock Church is my family. I have never felt unappreciated there. I am encouraged to dream big, reach higher and grow more. It's hard work and takes alot out of me on Sundays, but at the same time when you are doing what you love and what you are passionate about it empowers you.
Today I finished up a 13 hour day and walked away irritated because of where I stand. Over the past 3 years I have had a pretty good amount of success in a sales job in a difficult economy. I have had some opportunities for advancement and I have turned them down because it would pull me away from family and ministry too much. I caught some flack today and it just left me frustrated and feeling undervalued for what I have accomplished.
All this to say, I am wired to thrive when someone has my back. I thrive when I am encouraged. I'm not the only one. So instead of wallowing in my frustrations, I am going to make a conscious effort to show others that I value them.

Sundays and feet

Many times in ministry days can just be a blur. You have guest speakers, not enough volunteers, new projects, broken pagers, wild kids...etc. As we were wrapping things up this morning I was monitoring the bounce house and one of my first graders was putting his shoes on had something to tell me about his soccer game yesterday. He always sounds excited about things and I could not quite understand what he said so I said "great" or "awesome". Well his mom happened to be standing there and asked me if I heard what he said. I responded sheepishly "something about soccer, but I couldn't tell for sure what it was". She told me he said "Yesterday a soccer ball hit me in the face". Wow! Did I feel like a jerk. It stinks when you get so caught up in the noise that you miss what's really important - the relationships. I hope the families at the Rock Church know that I love their children and really don't think it's cool for them to get hit in the head by soccerballs. My favorite part of working with children is the relationships. I love it when kids are so excited to tell me about their week or something important that happenned. Next week, I'm not going to miss out on that.

Summers End and Sabbatical

A little over 4 years ago my old Pastor asked me to come and lead the Elementary Ministries at the Rock Church. I have been faithfully serving there since on a part time basis. I absolutely love my church. The people there are awesome and truly care about each other. I had a few things this summer going on and needed some time off. I asked my Pastor Scott Fenton for the time and he asked me to take off a few more weeks for a Sabbatical of Sorts. One day, I would love to take a few weeks off and go to Yosemite or something and just connect with God. However, I still have a family and a job to take care of, so I had a few Sundays off. It was nice I was able to visit a few other churches and just relax on Sundays without having to plan any lessons or tear down any bounce houses or load any trucks or trailers. I have to admit - I really enjoyed the time off and it went by very quickly. However, I was very excited to go back to my church. I was brought before the church on Sunday and was shown alot of appreciation. It is great to feel loved. I had kids hugging me and parents thanking me and friends welcoming me. It was great to be back at the Rock. I have had a few job offers in the past year that I have turned down because God wants me right where I am. There are some great things going on at the Rock and our community. We have a huge Block Party coming up on Sept 13 and the following weeks some special guests in the Children's area. I thank God for the opportunity to serve where I am at and I thank the people for believing in me and supporting me.

Why I love the Waffle House

Last night Laura and I had the privilege of visiting one of my favorite eating establishments with my sister and brother in law Amber and Aaron. I don't get to visit the Waffle House to often because they won't let them build them anywhere near the west coast. So anytime I come back to Tennessee I have to make at least one trip back to the WaHo. Here is a little best of list from our trip last night in no particular order..

1. No smoking inside anymore. This means no ash in your food.
2. The restaurant is empty and the parking lot is full.
3. It now smells like a bathroom.
4. Special Lady at the Waffle House is always on the jukebox and I will always play it. I skipped out on the Waffle House Do Wop.
5. When it's slow the Waitress will stand and talk to you the whole time.
6. She will tell you about how she has a customer who recently got Salmonella poisoning from eating their undercooked eggs and had to take medicine for a year. This makes you not hungry very quickly.
7. There's a picture of promo picture of their chili and it looks like the guy is holding a cigarette over the bowl.
8. They are always open.
9. 12 hours later I still have a gut bomb
10. When I got back to the house I found a Waffle House Camoflauge shirt on my bed. (Team RealTree)

A first for everything

So yesterday I received my first black eye. Now I would love to say "you should see the other guy" or "I charged the mound" or "I took a line drive to the face", but it's simply not that cool It was the kickoff of my Tuesday night Softball Team. We took first place in our league last summer and are looking to take it again. I arrived at the park in plenty of time to warm up. I started throwing the ball around with one of our new players who happens to be a police officer. He's got a pretty decent arm and I was working off of about 3 or 4 hours of sleep. He threw it to me and I put my glove up, but not fast enough. The ball nipped the top of my glove and then hit my cheek bone pretty hard. I walked about ten or fifteen feet and then quit throwing. I went onto play and did pretty well, however I pulled myself out of the outfield the second game due to some depth perception issues. As you can see, a good shiner has a growing process. I woke up with my eye swollen shut. With the advice of my sister who is nurse and Carver's Pediatrician I had some X-rays to make sure all is well. It's just going to make me really pretty for a few weeks.

Happy Birthday Laura

I married the most amazing woman in the world. Today, I was able to spend the whole day with her celebrating. Well except for the 3 and half hours she was getting her hair done. I have known her for almost 10 years now and she has made me me a much better man. Happy Birthday Laura - I love you!

Wow do I stink at Golf

So this afternoon I went to Ballinger Lake Golf Course for a Staff Meeting with my pastor. We don't meet to often, so we had to make the most out of it. There comes a point in golf where you just have to pick up your ball and right a very large number on the score card. I made that happen on the first 3 holes and then I came across this beast on the course. It was 85 degrees outside, so he was just chilling under the bench at hole 4. My ball landed about 10 feet away from him, so he decided to attack or at least lay right beside the ball. So I poked him a few times with my pitching wedge and he just thought I was playing. I picked him up and moved him a few feet, so he darted back on top of my ball. This sequence continued for about 6 or 7 times before I finally was able to run back and chip the ball away. I finally got away and watched my hacker pastor shoot a birdie. We had a great time and I look forward to more golf this summer. I just have to quit swinging my clubs like a baseball bat.

Happy Birthday Carver

So I call this Blog the Adventures of Bucksnort and his Boy, yet I failed to complete a post I started on the Boy's first birthday. It was a busy weekend, so now 2 and a half weeks later I'll let you know what a special day it was.
A little over a year ago, we were excited and frightened about this little boy who had been growing inside Laura's belly. After a few premature trips to the hospital due to some high blood pressure, the doctor scheduled the C-section about a week early. I could not sleep the night before, I was so excited. We had to get up about 4am to get to the hospital around 5:30. Molly brought me a quad shot white mocha to keep me awake and I chased that with a 5 hour energy drink. I didn't want to miss out on a single thing that happened that morning. I was a little jittery, but enjoyed every moment of that day. They pulled Carver out of Laura and started to clean him up. I watched from a distance with tears in my eyes and then the nurse invited me over. I was a bit fearful to hold the little 6lb boy. I held him tightly and did not want to let him go. I still feel this way. I love to get him in the morning when he wakes up and is so glad to see me. I love to see him smile, walk, fall, laugh and make faces at me. My heart melts at this adorable little boy.
He is now a year old. His baby days are fleeting and he is becoming a little boy. He has a great personality and is stubborn as a bull. He had around 20 people come and celebrate his first birthday. He got cake absolutely everywhere and loved all the attention. I look forward to many many more years of watching him grow into a young man.

Reliving the Past

So my 10 year reunion is coming up and all those high school memories keep coming to mind. We had a swimming pool at my house and during the summer time we always had parties. If it was near your birthday and everyone was going to the Lowery's chances are it was a surprise party for you. It was pretty fun. Of course, now I live in Washington and my parents have moved to Hawaii and the house is sold. All those memories of the old pool can't be relived unless the new owners are on vacation in late August. One of the memories that I have involves the diving board. We had the old Monkey dance, butt bounce, WWF moves, and of course splash contests. Everyone wanted to see how much water you could get to land on someone nice and dry or how high you could get the water to shoot in the air. I follow a blog called Coolest Toys and it had this splash meter. I probably wouldn't have bought it, but it looks pretty cool. Toys are so much cooler these days but we had more fun building our own stuff.

One Great Mother

Last year at this time we were preparing for one of the biggest events of our lives. I was super excited and Laura was super frightened. We had no idea of what was to come in just a few weeks. Laura was celebrating her first Mother's Day as she had been nurturing Carver in the womb for 8 months. She was terrified about the kind of Mother she would be. I kept telling her she would make a great mom and to just relax. She would fall in love with the strange thing in her belly that kept kicking her. A few weeks later she met met the cutest kid in the world - okay he was much cuter after he lost a few wrinkles was cleaned and put on a few pounds. Carver met the woman who had brought him so much comfort as he was growing into a 6lb little boy. She has continued to bring him comfort and lots and lots of love. She learned how to change a diaper and she instantly fell in love with a complete stranger. Laura is a great mother and terrific wife. We are blessed to have her in our lives. Her love for me encourages me to be the man God has created me to be. Her love for Carver teaches him to love others and grow into a great man/little boy.
Happy Mother's Day Laura - You are the Best!

I stink at this...

So my last post was pretty raw in the way that I was feeling and my emotions have been a bit of a rollercoaster. People should be real with each other about how they are feeling. The problem is we don't know how to respond when someone is real - especially in the church bubble. I grew up thinking that we always had to be great - especially on Sundays. Now that I am in sales at work it's kind of like this as well. Customers don't want for me to tell them that I lost a job recently and really don't want to be doing this at the moment. It just makes things a little awkward. So we struggle to find who we can be honest with and when we can be honest. We have to find a filter. Kind of ironic - I use a filter at home to get the pure water and I filter my feelings and language to keep the pure out.
All this to say, I am not sure what is next on the horizon for me. I can see what is here and now and I have to trust God for the future. For now I am going to focus on being who God wants me to be today - An unashamed follower of Christ, a loving and responsible husband and father and passionate Children's Director at the Rock. This is where and Who God wants me to be.

Bummer...

Can I be honest for a minute or ten? This afternoon I went to a meeting with my hopes high of a dream job – full time Children’s ministry. I have been working with another church for about 6 months and had been talking about a full time position. I was really excited because I would be able to continue to serve at the Rock on Sunday mornings and there during the week as well as on Sunday nights. I love the church, but I truly believe that God wants my family together at the Rock. Turns out that the other church wanted and found someone a little more committed to them. I completely understand their choice and decision and it makes sense. We were talking about something that was way outside the conventional ministry box and it really wasn’t the right fit. Nothing was ever set in stone, but I had my heart set on it and now it is crushed. I don’t understand what God is doing. It is my heart’s desire to be in full time ministry. I felt God’s calling when I was 17 and have struggled to find it since. I have been in and out of full time ministry outside the normal church settings and I have been part time at the Rock for almost 4 years now. I love the Rock Church and it is great for my family. I am just not sure that I will ever be able to serve full time there. There needs to be a lot more growth for to happen and I don’t know what God’s plans are. As it is I have too much on my plate and there is so much more that I want to do but can’t. I work my butt off trying to provide for my family and to do a good job. I have passed on opportunities to advance in my professional career outside the church and with other churches in hopes of going into full time ministry. I just don’t get it. What is God doing? What are his plans? I don’t want to be working two or three jobs to make ends meet and support doing ministry. God knows my desire – heck he put it there. What’s going on? Is he just trying to teach me to be patient and content? This seems to be a journey and I am just kind of running in place.

A Day in the Sun

It is amazing what a little sun will do for you. Yesterday, Carver and I went for a a few rounds around Green Lake in the sun. It was a beautiful 70 degrees and we had a great time. Carver had a huge smile that made everyone else smile. We talked back and forth with each other the whole way around the lake. Well it was more like yelling and grunting - you know guy talk. It's back to gray skies here, but I know Summer is coming and I can't wait.

Mariners Predictions

Baseball is officially on and I am excited. I enjoy watching football and going to a hockey game or even a soccer game. I don't care about Basketball at all - so I am excited to not hear about brackets and Final Four or Elite Eight or Sweet Sixteen for quite a while after tonight. It is all about Baseball now. The Mariner's did a little bit of house cleaning over the off season when it comes to management. Finally - Bill Bavasi is gone, but unfortunately the effects of his poor decisions will live on for a few more years. But that's life - we must live with the mistakes of others and most importantly our own. We just have to choose to learn from them and hopefully not make them again.
This would be considered one of the rebuilding years for the Mariners. No one expects them to be in contention for anything other than not being the worst team in baseball. They were 3rd on the list last season. However, I think anything is possible. Two years ago, the Rays had the worst record in the American League - Last year they won the World Series. I don't think the Mariners will make that kind of change, but I think they will stay competitive and will be fun to watch. After all - Griffey is back. So I thought I would throw out a few predictions of my own, this way I can see how wrong I am at the end of the season.

Ichiro - .300 Batting Average and 200 hits - this one is a little predictable

Griffey - .260 BA and 27 Home Runs and will play as a Mariner in 2010

Beltre - .280 BA and 35 Home Runs and will be traded in July to a contender - this will stink

Lopez - .285 BA and 22 Home Runs

Bentancourt - He's going to choke this year and will either get traded or released or sent to the Minors. Maybe we will get a Shortstop for Beltre

Johjima - .220 BA and 15 Home Runs

King Felix - 18 Wins and 8 Losses

Washburn - 10 Wins and 4 Losses and Traded Away in June - hopefully

Mariners Season 79 Wins and 83 Losses - 3rd Place in the American League West

Any Predictions for you?

TV Hiatus...well kind of

Alright, so life has been a little challenging lately. I have alot of my plate and I get overwhelmed sometimes. I am a world class procrastinator. I have been great at it since high school. I don't think I finished more than two books in all my high school English classes. However, I skimmed the best of the cliff notes. All this to say, I need to clear my head some and get back to some basics. This is the season of lent and I don't want to claim that I'm giving up this for God, because I am doing this more for myself. I need to clear my head a little more so that I can focus on God and what He's doing right now. I feel like I am missing out on some good stuff. So here is what I am going to do. No more watching TV by myself. I tend to come home after work and just want to veg in front of the tube. I also do this on my days off. So for the next few weeks I'll go outside a little more, play some more guitar and maybe just maybe even try to read a book. I just picked up Messy Spirituality. I'm not giving it up completely as I enjoy watching a few shows with Laura. But I am going to cut back seriously for a while and hopefully it will stick.

The Consequences of Truth

In the past week I have come upon a few situations where I have been really tempted to lie. Earlier this week someone made the statement question: "You don't have any weapons in your house right?" and today on my life insurance medical evaluation I was asked "When was the last time you had tobacco products?"
To address the first question, I do have a broken 22 caliber rifle packed away in my garage. The rifle is no where near the bullets which are hidden in a complete different room. I don't see this weapon as a threat anymore than one of the knives in my kitchen. And now to the second question, I do enjoy a cigar or clove every once in a while. Due to me answering these questions honestly, a child will probably not attend a Kid's conference this weekend and I will have to pay a higher rate for my term life insurance. Sometimes the truth just seems a bit inconvenient.

9 months and kicking and biting and falling

So Carver now is crawling like there is no tomorrow. I take that back tomorrow he wants to walk. He pulls himself up to his feet using whatever he can: legs, couches, dogs, diaper bags. Once he gets up, he isn't quite sure what to do with himself so he gets excited and falls. His bottom two teeth are in and his top ones just cut through in the last day or two. That means he doesn't sleep through the night very well. The Doctor said go ahead and pump him full of ibuprofen so he's comfortable. I'm not going to argue with that. So today we had his 9 month checkup and here are the results.

Height: 31.25 - 100%
Weight: 21lbs 14.3 oz - 70%
Head: 47.25 cm - 95%

I think Carver is going to be a pretty big kid. Maybe a Ninja.

Lego Masters and the Mariner Moose

So there is about 2 inches of snow already on the ground and much more coming. This morning it was just really cold so Laura and I wanted to take Carver somewhere warm other than the house. So we went to the Bellsquare Mall. In the center of the mall there were tons of kids waiting to be a part of something magical - Helping a Lego Master build an 8ft R2-D2. When I look back at my childhood I had many favorite toys - Nunchucks, Big Wheels and Legos. I played with legos much older than the average kid. I think I finally put them up around 8th or 9th grade. The Pirate Legos were my favorite - probably because they had guns. After watching the Lego Master build for while we went and saw the Mariner Moose at Pottery Barn Kids. Carver wasn't quite sure what the massive stuffed animal was - so we took his picture and got and autograph for Carver. I can't wait for the baseball season. Tickets go on sale next week. So the mall isn't always evil and today it certainly beat just being lazy around the house.

A little Encouragement

Life has been a bit hectic lately and thus the lack of posting the past 2 weeks. On Thursday, we had a Small Group Dessert Social. It was a way for people in our church to find out who's in life groups and a chance to get plugged in. There was way to much dessert and not much room to move. Overall I thought it went over very well. I was able to connect with a new family in our church with young children. This mom was sharing that they were having a tough time finding a church primarily because it was difficult to find a place where the kids wanted to come. Well things have changed for them now. Now on Saturday nights, this young boy gets excited about going to church on Sundays. It's stories like this, that really give me that extra boost when I am feeling down. God knows our needs and gives hope in dark times. I will put my trust in Him.

A Valentine's day Tale

Long before I met my valentine, I had another special girl in my life. It turns out she was more special to me than I was to he. I didn't have many girlfriends and the ones that I had never seem to last very long. This one I thought was quite special. I had grandiose ideas of romance and I was hoping to get my first kiss. My parents were going out that night and I had the house almost to myself. I was going to pick her up at seven and bring her back to my parents house for dinner and a movie. I started dinner around 4 - Lemon Chicken, scalloped potatoes and broccoli and something sweet for dessert. I bought a dozen roses and a chic flic - My Best Friends Wedding. I was busy making dinner and the phone rang. It was her, but there was a bit of a twinge and maybe a tear in her voice. She asked if she could just drive herself over. That didn't seem to gentlemanly to me, but I wasn't going to argue. So I knew something was up, I just didn't know what. Seven o'clock rolled around and the stage was set. Dinner was on the table, candles burning, flowers smelling beautiful and me waiting anxiously. Around 7:15 the doorbell rang and I saw her car. I went to the door only to see her full of tears. She came and sat on the couch with me and just said "I just can't do this". I assumed it meant the relationship. I didn't understand why I just hurt. So I joined in the crying and just sat their on the couch with my heart crushed. I blew out the candles and neither of us had an appetite. The food sat on the table just getting cold. We eventually turned on the movie and later decided to be just "friends" and if by the time we would turn 30 and neither of us were married we would find each other and tie the knot. Stupid chic flicks. To this day, I still don't know why she dumped me.

Daddy Time

Tuesdays and Wednesdays are special days for me. I am fortunate to be able to have a work schedule that allows me to spend extra time with Carver. We hang out all day Tuesday and until about 1:00 on Wednesday. Carver wanted a little extra attention today while I was shaving. He is growing so quickly I have to log and treasure moments like these.

Biggest Pet Peeve

Alright, there is a certain holiday that was created or at least made famous by card makers coming very soon. Along with any holiday where gifts are given come a barrage of commercials telling Americans - primarily American Men what they should buy if they really care. I don't know if there is anything that bugs me more than some guy named Jared or Robbins or Kay that tells me what I need to buy to prove my love for my wife. It is just absolutely ridiculous. I always switch the station, most of the time onto another station playing another jewelry commercial. It is just stupid. I think that I should start sending strongly written letters to the radio stations. There is no reason why we should have to endure the torture of listening to these marketing beasts. By the way, I pick up Laura's new ring from the mall on Friday.

Go Steelers!

A few years ago, the Seahawks were actually good and made it to the Superbowl. Unfortunately, that is not the case this year. On that particular Sunday I decided to teach the kids about Loving People who are different. It went over well and I did end up rooting on my home team. This year I am rooting for the Steelers for real!

Thankfully not ours!

So last week it was my car getting towed. This car looks exactly like Laura's. A good friend saw this in a ravine by his house. Thankfully it wasn't ours and we were not in it. However, it looks like the passenger compartment looks fairly intact considering it went over the sidewalk, through a fence, through a utility pole and down a ravine. I feel a bit safer when thinking about an accident now. After all - it is the mom car.

25 things about me

25 Things about me stolen from Facebook

1. I have been married for 7 plus years to a beautiful wife Laura and we now have an adorable son Carver Lee who is 8 months old. We also have her Purse Dog Beast who is a Bichon/Pom and I have the best dog Phoenix who is a sometimes smelly Golden Retriever.
2. I work at 3 different places yet still have time to spend 2 -3 full days to hang out with my son.
3. Hockey is my favorite sport, yet I have not played it in almost 15 years. Now I play softball.
4. I get a little OCD when it comes to trying to find something online - like a vehicle on Craigslist. I do this repeatedly during a day even when I know I can't afford it or won't be able to for a few years.
5. My dream is to become a full time Children's Pastor.
6. I recently went to Mac and I never want to go back.
7. As I get older, I listen to a lot more Talk Radio and lot less music.
8. I somewhat shamefully like to listen to country music - more 90's country than todays country.
9. I still consider my best friend Gabe Marshall - even though I haven't seen him in more than 8 years and have only talked to him a few times since then.
10. Once, Blair and I dropped off his mom's Cat at a girls house as a prank. I still don't understand why. Mrs D is mad at me to this day for that one.
11. A few weeks later I dropped off a dead squirrel at the same girls house. This might make me a serial killer. I'm still not sure why I did that. However, she was my girlfriend a few weeks later. However, it didn't last very long. Kind of like all of my relationships before Laura.
12. I got married at 21 and felt like I waited a long time because my parents were married at 19 and 20 and my sisters both got married when they were 18.
13. I had the opportunity to perform at the White House in 2003.
14. I have been to 40 states. These are the ones I am missing: Vermont, Rhode Island, South Dakota, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Montana, Maine, Delaware , Connecticut and Alaska. I think I have passed through Delaware and Connecticut I just can't say for sure. One day I hope to see them all - especially Alaska.
15. I have spent about 6 weeks working in England and love it. I could totally live there.
16. I used to live in a house that used to be owned by Hank Williams Jr's sister.
17. After being married for 6 years, my wife found out I can play the trumpet.
18. I really really like the idea of reading, however when it comes to the act I mostly fall asleep. I never finished a book I was supposed to read in High School. Cliff notes are amazing. Do they even make them anymore or is all online?
19. When Carver learns to ride a bike or tricycle, I want to learn the unicycle.
20. I am hoping to get a VW Trike for my 29th or 30th Birthday.
21. My most prized possession as a 7 year old was my nunchucks. I used to attack the Gordon Girls with them and my sisters. One day they disappeared and I was very sad. 10 years later, Beth Gordon Eichelberger found them in a tree in her back yard while doing yard work. I treasure them still.
22. I love Baseball. I collected cards as a kid and kind of lost my passion until I got married. My wife was a fan, so I started following. Now, I am way to much of a baseball geek for her taste.
23. Laura and I used to sit and dream about opening some type of Teen Center one day.
24. My favorite TV show is Lost. I admit I have a problem and listen to Lost Podcasts. I also enjoy Fringe, Terminator, Sons of Anarchy and Dexter and NCIS.
25. I used to be a professional Yo-Yo man.

Mmmm.....Bacon

Many of you know that I am quite the bacon fan. From bacon flavored chewing gum to ice cream to air fresheners - I love it all. Eric Earling posted this on Facebook and I had to check it out and drool. The guys over at BBQAddicts came up with this recipe. I will have to try it out this summer while camping. I just better make sure I have cell reception to call the paramedics when I have a heart attack.

Northwest Children's Ministry Network

Towed!

Saturdays are supposed to be relaxing. This morning started out great. I slept in until a whopping 7:30am. Laura and Carver and I went to the Sawmill for Breakfast and then had a few projects to complete. We managed to finish putting up the fireplace mantle - just the painting left. My garage has been a disaster zone for about a month now with stuff needing to go to the dump. I put on my canopy on my truck and loaded it to the max for a dump run. Notice the old Love Sac falling out of the back. I was on my way to the church office to pick up a few more things for the dump and my truck broke down. After waiting for about an hour, a tow truck picked me up and now I am down a vehicle and probably a few hundred bucks. It's a real anti-motivation power move to have your truck break down when your getting so much accomplished. I really don't feel like doing much of anything now. I think I'll order a pizza and shoot some people on Xbox now.

Watch what you post!

Yesterday I learned a lesson about blogging - Sometimes people may read it! My boss called me into his office and asked me if I had some kind of blog. I sheepishly replied "yeah". Apparently someone in management has a google alert so that if someone writes about C**tas it sends him an email. He then reads to content to evaluate it. Apparently, my blog popped up on his alert, but the company filter would not let him read it. So there are a few rumors around work about my indencent blog. Okay, I made up the indecent part, but I was given a bit of a warning. I told my boss that I don't write anything about the company - just him.

Fighting it off!

I kind of feel like I look in this picture. It's been almost 2 weeks now that I have been fighting off a cold. Pardon the pun, but I am just sick of it. I think that one of us will start to get better and then pick it up from the other one. I am starting to think that we need to put ourselves into some type of isolation cell so that we can all get better. That kind of sounds like a cage when it comes to Carver. Social Services would probably get a call on this one. Until I get better, I will just keep pushing forward with life in hopes of not getting others sick and try to keep caught up on projects and work.

24 hours and still going

It's 3am and I have been up since 3:30 yesterday morning with just a short hour nap to keep going. I just got home from work and I need to unwind a bit and I just have to tell this story. The thing that I love about being Children's Ministry the best is hanging out with the kids. When I get the chance, I try to make it to a kids sports game or play or meet to show support and also connect with their parents. One of the girls at the Rock has a huge passion for Gymnastics. She recently told her dad that she really feels God's presence when she is doing gymnastics. She knows that doing this, brings God pleasure. How cool is that! God made us all so unique and different. We may be athletically inclined, or musical or even organization. God gives us all talents to use for him. He loves to see us using these talents and passions. It worked out for me to get off work a little bit early from my first shift to go to her meet today. Being my first meet, I thought it would take 2 maybe 3 hours. Well that stretched into about 5. It seems like a long time, but it was totally worth it. All these girls train for at least 10 hours a week and work extremely hard. It was alot of fun cheering her on and hanging out with her family. This family encourages me so much. I see Godly parents who work hard at teaching good character and Jesus' love to their 5 children. I want to be a dad like that - just not the whole 5 kid part.

Snotfaced and Happy

So this past week has been a long one. All three of us have been sick and our normal babysitters had out of town friends over. Luckily I worked it out to have Friday off for my body to recuperate or at the very least work on some home projects. On Saturday I was wondering if I was going to have enough in me to make it Sunday morning. I don't really have anyone I can call in to cover for me right now, so I was just praying I would get better. Sure enough, God is always faithful. I was feeling good enough to press on. Pretty interesting, I prayed that God would be made strong in my weakness. Then I taught about Shadrach, Meschach and Abenego (I have know idea how they are really spelled - and they aren't there God given names in the first place). You talk about some guys who let God be strong in their weakness. Did God show up before they were put in the fire? Yeah, maybe he gave them the strength to stand. But he really showed Himself when they were engulfed in flames. I wish I had faith like that. Anyways, this morning went really well. I was totally jazzed about teaching kids about Christ and making the right choices. I was excited to teach again at 5:00 at Gold Creek. Well I was excited until I got home and felt like death warmed over. Again I pulled myself together and the service went great. I came home to an empty house - this means I can play Xbox. After killing a few people and getting killed much more I came upstairs to check my temperature. A fever and I feel like junk. But you know what, I love working in Children's Ministry. I have a beautiful son who is teething and growing and walking with some assistance. I have an amazing beautiful wife and God takes care of my needs. Life is good.

Powertools and blood

I worked it out to have 3 day weekend. I really needed it because I have a nasty cold and need the rest. I also have a promised project of tiling the fireplace and building a new mantle to accomplish. So I am laying on the couch watching Horton Hears a Who and Laura breaks out her pink hammer and tools and starts chipping away at the old tile. I don't know if its a guy thing or what, but I see pink tools and I think I can knock that out with some power tools much quicker. So I hand her Carver and find the compressor and tools. I blasted away the old tile in about 30 minutes with my power tools and Non Pink Hammer. At the same time, I managed to shoot tile pieces into my hands and arms so lets just say the underlayment has some character. I despise tiling. After this project, we should be done tiling for a while. I hope.

What do you think?

One of the things I really enjoy doing is sitting in coffee shops and working or playing a game or just hanging out over a cup of joe. My favorite coffee shop is The Spotted Cow. They have good coffee, ice cream and best of all -free wifi. This afternoon I brought my Macbook and some paperwork to work on. I was surrounded by others either reading or working on their computers. The normal protocol is to grab a seat, buy a drink and enjoy the ambiance. You can stay for hours and sip the same coffee or even move on to a glass of water. It's all good. All was well today until the table next to me was empty. At that point a young lady walked into the shop and sat down with some books and a laptop. She was working for a while and I realized, she never got up to get coffee. I thought it was a bit strange. Well after sitting there for almost 2 hours, I realized I better get home. I got up and noticed she did have a cup of coffee. However, it was not from the Spotted Cow - it was Starbucks. Boo...

Life Changes and Goals

The past two years Laura and I have sate down in early January and talked about what we want to accomplish in the next year. Its really strange because so many things have to do with the house and projects. It really makes me feel like an adult. For so long, I yearned for these things - you know responsibility and all. Now I have them and just want to retreat. Retreating is not an option and truthfully not who I want to be. I have a few goals for this next year and I thought I would share them with 3 people who read my blog. Here they are in no particular order:

1. Grow Spiritually : I have become lazy in this and I truly desire for God to change my heart.
2. Spend more time away from Media - less TV more reading, more writing, more time playing with Carver
3. Lose 10 lbs - eating healthier would help this
4. Plan Children's Ministry lessons more than a week ahead of time.
5. Language - This started working in a truck all day long -its bled out and I don't like it
6. I want to have more authentic conversations with my guy friends. Life's to short to just talk about work, sports, kids, church and beer.

A little Poker

I am always up for a good game. It can be Poker, Fill or Bust, Sequence, Killer Bunnies, Time's up, Quelf or just about anything. I get extremely competitive sometimes to the point some people don't want to play with me. I am trying to work on that. Tonight I am playing some good old fashioned Texas Hold Em with the family. It should be fun. Laura's Aunt Laura is in town and she talks some good smack. It's just to bad were not playing for money.

Flopping around

A close friend and relative made a post in December stating something like New Year's Resolutions are dumb, change now. It makes a lot of sense. We often wait for an event to inspire us or give us ar eason to change. When I was in youth group it was always camp or youth retreats or mission trips. Those camp experiences were great. They were extremely moving and all your friends were being inspired as well. However, most of the time those feelings ended up like the gym in February - fleeting. The times when I felt God speaking to me the most, was when I was still before Him. It was when I was open to what He had to say to me. One time I was in church - when you have parents like I do, you were there quite a bit. I felt God telling me to just leave and get away from all the distraction and just be with him. He was telling me that I lost my first love. I had lost my love for him. I was so caught up in life and being a teenager that I failed to let him be the center of it. Another time, when I was 17 I was still before the Lord and I felt him telling me that he had big plans for me. His plan was for me to go into Ministry. I didn't know exactly what that looked like, but hey I went to a big baptist church so I had an idea. Well I am doing that now - serving Christ or "Ministry" that is. Quite a bit of actually, but I want more. I am feeling distracted. My mind is telling me that it is because I am not serving him full time. I am working a full time job during the week and working at two churches serving Him. My mind is telling me that God called me to ministry - so I should be focusing on only that.
This morning on my way to work at 4am I was thinking and talking to God a bit and I was feeling like a fish out of water. As a kid in Miami I fished all the time. My favorite part was the fight. You set the hook, then let your drag out a bit and reel him in. When you finally land him up on the bank you reach down to pull the hook out of his mouth. The fish will always start flopping around. Maybe because he has a hook in his mouth, or because he can't breathe or maybe I'm just scary to look at. The fish is out of his element. He is not where he was designed to be. He was created to be in the water, under the lily pads just swimming around. Well right now, I am that fish out of water. I am not where I am supposed to be. My mind is telling me one thing, but heart is telling me another. It's not because I am not Full time Children's Pastor, its that I not giving God my full time. I am not being open to what He has for me. I am not being humble enough to let Him speak to me. So I don't have any New Years resolutions. They don't stick, just stink and make you feel guilty. I just want to be still before God. I want to listen to what He has for me.

Exciting News at The Rock

Yesterday at The Rock Church we voted in our new Lead Pastor - Scott Fenton. I have no doubt that God has brought him to us and I am excited to see what that is. I am anxious to get to know and work with him. He is very genuine and very passionate about sharing God's love with our community. The past few months have been a challenging time for the dedicated. It has been exciting to see many people step up to the plate in new areas of service. At the same time, I am glad that the Pastor Search Committee, Laura and the Elders can take a step back and not have to meet so often at all those ungodly hours. Welcome Scott and Angela and Elle and Luke!