Christmas is over...

Indeed it is. In my opinion, we probably had the best Christmas we have had as a family yet. The kids were excited about what they got. They thanked us and appreciated the sacrifices that we made to get them the things we wanted. The Jolio and I both got what we wanted as well, even though we said we were not going to get each other presents. We went and had our normal brunch with my parents and then we had the Jolio's family over to our newly remodeled house for a Christmas dinner. We had a great time at both.

Anyway, now we look forward to a new year. The Punk and Claw are both playing basketball, which starts in a couple of weeks. I am coaching the Claw's team this year. I owe her. I only coached her for one season in soccer. I have coached the Punk for 6 seasons of soccer and 1 season of basketball, so I am trying to catch up. She is excited. I love basketball. If there is anything I know it is basketball and music. So that part should be easy. The only thing I am worried about is the shirts they give the coaches to wear. I am not an "off the rack" kind of guy when it comes to sizes. I asked for the biggest shirt they have, but I know it will not be big enough. Oh well. It is my own fault. I will put on a happy face for the Claw and figure something out.

We hope to move out to our newly remodeled house soon. We will probably wait until closer to Spring, though, unless we sell this one first.

Happy New Year...

Getting Close, Getting Ready...

Well, we have finally come to it. We may be getting close to moving out to our remodeled house in the woods. I can hardly wait. We just came from there. It has a porch that stretches out in front of half the house. There was a cold rain in the air. You could almost smell the air. Does anyone else know what I mean? You know, when the air is cold and crisp, and you take a deep breath and it just fills your lungs. At that point right there, I can almost smell air. I am not talking about the smells that you usually find in the air. I am talking about smelling the air itself. Anyway, tonight standing on my porch in the middle of the woods, I could smell the air. I knew then that this was meant to be.

Moving on...Hopefully, we will get to move out to the house in the next few weeks. No, unfortunately, we still haven't sold this one, but we decided we were ready to take the plunge. We'll see what happens.

Smell you later...

Can we get back to simple...

It seems that with every passing day, I long more and more for life to be simple again. Now mind you, I am not looking for Amish/Mennonite plain, but I feel like I am more and more "out of the loop" everyday. And, the strange thing is (strange to the rest of the world, anyway) I am embracing it. Allow me to explain...

Let's start with face-to-face conversation etiquette. When did it become OK to, in the middle of a face-to-face conversation, answer your cell phone, turn and walk away leaving the person with whom you were having a face-to-face conversation just standing there looking foolish? Is it just me or could that not be considered one of the rudest behaviors in the history of mankind? (OK, that last bit may have been a little dramatic, but you get my point.) I mean, for crying out loud, I am standing right here in front of you. What could be so freaking important that you stop mid-sentence with no explanation and answer a machine that apparently deserves more attention than a living, breathing human being?!

While we are on the subject, let's talk about the cell phone itself. Are you sitting down? Can you handle this? I have a cell phone, but I DON"T HAVE IT STRAPPED TO MY PERSON AT ALL TIMES!!!! I don't have it in my pocket and I don't carry it around. Do you know where I have it? I have it in my vehicle in case of emergencies, and it is charged about half of the time. And guess what? I still manage to get through my day at work, home, church, etc. without it. Can you believe it? In my humble and, I am certain, solo opinion, the cellular phone is the black plague of our times. It has infected the majority of the inhabitants of the earth, with the exception of Africa who is not far behind the rest of us. These pestulants are everywhere--causing car accidents, interrupting meetings at work, interrupting sermons at church, interrupting the overpriced movie you paid for, interrupting the face-to-face conversation you were just having....and that is just the ring and answer part of it. Then you have the actual talking.

But, the most annoying part of it all is the text message. Not only are we too lazy to get out a piece of paper and a writing instrument and write a letter, put it in an envelope, put a stamp on it, and mail it, nor can we have a face-to-face conversation, nor can we pick up a telephone and talk to someone, but we are going to open up this little, bitty machine and type in a bunch of abbreviations, not words, just abbreviations so we can communicate about things that are more than likely not even important in the large scheme of things. Soon, we will resort to grunting and pointing to communicate, but not in person, of course.

I know this sounds hypocritical coming from a guy typing on a computer into a blog, but at least I am using words (They may not be big ones, but they are words) and putting thoughts together. This is the only way that someone else may read this, since they no longer recognize penmanship and stationary, but only this mindless drivel called blogging...in cyberspace. It is not even a real place. You can't even leave it to ignore the conversation you are having with someone...

I'll be back to whine some more later...

Yep, we're still here....

Well, once again I am 7 months late with an update, but here goes.

I did get the management job I was after. I have been in the position since June. It is going well. Also, God asked me to leave my post as Worship Pastor at the church. We left there in July. We have been looking for a new church since then, but I think we may have recently found one.

We still own the two houses. Not fun, my friends, not fun. We are still trying to sell the house we are in, so we can move out to our remodeled house. It is slow going. The market is terrible.

The Claw got to go to the State Softball tournament with her team. They ended up taking 5th place overall. They had to play 7 games in a row on a very hot day. But, it was a great experience for her, and she had fun.

The Punk played his first year of football this year and made the All-Star team. They got to go play a tournament in Oklahoma. They lost two games in a row, but he has finally found his sport. He loves football!! He is a lineman and loves to hit people, so it is a good fit.

I recently started up a new band called One of Ten as my musical outlet. It is a worship band that is doing all of the original songs I wrote while at the church. The Punk is the drummer and some close friends are on keyboard and bass guitar. I am on acoustic and lead vocals. You can check out our MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/oneoftenworship. Hopefully, there will be a picture and a sound sample in the near future.

Well, that is about it.

See you in 6 months...