One Year Anniversary

It's been a year since I wrote my first blog entry on January 13, 2008.

Now that it's been a year, I've inducted myself into "official blogger" status. Another year or two and I'll be in Canton. Here are some reflections on being an official blogger (in no particular order)...

1. I started blogging because I wanted to have a sort of life journal that I could look back on. I wanted it to be public so as to demonstrate what an "unto God" life looks like. I've strived for authenticity, even when I come out as the friend of Beevis. As it turns out, that happened more than I'd like, but oh well. Maybe 2039 will show improvement. I'll either be 62 or with Jesus by then. I wonder if there will be bloggers in heaven.

2. The blog has gotten over 22,000 hits. That's good news, not just for narcissistic reasons, but because I hope readers are in some way encouraged to live out the Sh'ma (Deut. 6:4-ff) in everyday life. As a pastor, I lead a lot more people than I'm able to have daily relationship with. This allows people to stay updated on my life without a two hour meeting at a coffee shop. Plus it's better than that, because here you can see pictures.

That said, this blog was never meant to replace personal relationships with my family and close friends. (i.e. "I don't have to call, because I expect you to be reading my blog...")

3. Because my blog has the personal intertwined with theology, entertainment, recipes, etc, I think a lot of people feel like "stalkers" if they see me and reference something from the blog. It also restricts comments, or makes people want to post anonymous comments. I find that interesting. Maybe all blogs are that way...

4. I enjoy writing.  The blog has helped me formulate thoughts and communicate them clearly and concisely. If most blog readers are like me, I like pictures, short and to the point. So I try to make my blog more like USA Today than Wall Street Journal. Maybe smart people avoid my blog for that very reason. No offense if you're a daily metropuritan reader...

5. I hope 2009 is filled with more God, more fun stories, and more offspring (#5...)

I'll keep you posted.

Cheer up, spring is on its way!

Someone told me that according to historical averages, Sunday (Jan 11) is the coldest day of winter. So now that we're past that, it's all up from here. Slowly, but surely things will be warming up. 

I was looking through some skate pictures that a relative (props to Greg W!) shot of me at the skatepark on one of the last nice days of fall. I can't wait to get to the park again.

These two are a sequence. The second is my favorite.

Below is an old skool (everything I do at the park is old skool) judo air...
Below is an ollie out of the small quarter. The rush of flying through the air keeps me coming back!
The next six shots are a sequence of a Christ Air. This isn't the prettiest one, but you get the point. At the climax of the move, you are supposed to be in the form of a cross. At the skatepark, it's always good to have a trick that allows me to share Jesus.

The next four are a Japan air. It's a cool trick when it gets really tweaked out. This is a little less than stellar, but it works...

(below) A simple ollie down the stairs is something any chump at the park can do. But you can never take for granted the danger involved in skating. I've had some gnarly injuries over the years, and I can't help but encourage my kids to do something else with their youth. 

Besides, the more I'm at the park, the more I realize skateboarding is less a sport, and more an identity. A lot of the kids you'll find there are fatherless, insecure, and desperately wanting acceptance and attention. I wouldn't want my child there unsupervised. 

Oh yeah, and if there are any teens reading this...wear a helmet. It's saved my life a couple times. Last time I was in the ER getting stitches on my knee (stupid accident on the rail), the doctor told me, "This cut is OK... cuts and broken bones will heal, but I can't fix a brain injury."

"No one wears a helmet...it's not cool." 

Cool won't help you when you can only talk with slurred speech because you cracked your head on the pavement.

The Brothers

With numero cinco on the way, will Ava get another brother, or the sister she's (desperately) praying for?

Great reminder

I love the Puritans for reminding me...

"The true ambassador for Christ feels that he himself stands before God and has to deal with souls in Gods' stead as God's servant, and stands in a solemn place; a place in which unfaithfulness is inhumanity to man as well as treason to God." 

- C.H. Spurgeon, considered to be the last of the Puritans

"I preach as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men." 

- Richard Baxter, 17th century Puritan

On the home front...

Here are some odds and ends from the last week...

Guess what this is. Answer is at the very bottom.

Saturday's freezing rain left us unable to get the van into the driveway, much less the garage. Our driveway hardly has an incline, but putting the van in park didn't stop it from sliding backwards. I was overjoyed to get it partially onto the driveway/lawn.
We spent a couple days in Omaha over the new year. Leatha got the boys a set of K'nex. These toys are perfect for our engineer minded son, Cameron. Here he built a faris wheel.
Here's a shot at Jesse and Rachel (Nesbitt) Antelman's wedding. Makai is on the dance floor with Bobby and Maria Scott. I used the van ride home to preach to the kids about walking in moral purity- like Jesse and Rachel.
Here's a little conflict between Leatha and me... to have the DVD player in the van or not to have it?
We did a one day trip to NW Iowa the day after Christmas, and I was looking ALL OVER for my keys. Mysteriously, the keys were in the dead bolt lock (below) when I got home. Add this to my "I'm an idiot" list. Sadly, this doesn't even crack the top ten.  
Not pictured...

- Leatha has been making her own yogurt lately. Mixed with her homemade granola, and berries...it is amazing. Even better than McD's parfaits.

- If you're having cabin fever and you have a lot of little kids, then play a game called "Lion in the Darkness." It's a game I invented, as far as I know. Basically, you turn all the lights off (in our case, we do it in our basement). I go and hide in the dark basement, while the kids count to twenty upstairs. The kids all come and find me (I start growling to give them a clue). They are freaked out and it's a test of their courage. When they find me- sometimes I sneak up behind them- they scream and I chase them. It usually turns into a wrestling match.

It's basically hide and seek with a cool, scary name. So on second thought, maybe I didn't invent it. 

- Makai is at such a fun age (about 18 months). So much fun apparently we forgot about how hard the first year is.  So ready or not, numero cinco is on the way, due in July! (If this were our first, second, or even third child, it probably would've warranted it's own post. But this will have to do for a baby announcement. I have a good intention of doing a post entitled, "Reflections on having our fifth child." In it I'll talk about all the bone head comments we get, juxtaposed with God's view of children and family. Something like that...

Speaking of having a baby... It's funny because tonight I was showing our kids my burn scar that's all over my right thigh. Add this to the idiot list- the comment, not the scar. The scar is already on the list... I said, "Good thing it didn't burn this area [pointing to my 'loins' -in King James speak], otherwise we wouldn't have had you kids." 

The first thing Cameron asks, "Why?"

Ava starts laughing, "You mean you could give birth to a baby with that stuff? Moms have the babies, not daddies..."

Well, it's not surprising I got myself into this unplanned sex talk. Our parenting strategy is to be as forthright as possible on this issue. So we call all the body parts what they actually are called.... "hand" "arm" "leg" "foot" "penis" (not "thingy")

I already have a whole post on the sex talk. Click here. 

Oh yeah, the answer to the first picture: the remnants of Makai's tortilla from dinner tonight. You've got to give him credit, though. The way he folds it and takes bites makes it look like a kind of tortilla snow flake. Or swiss cheese.

 When you're worn out from little kids- dinner is a big pain- the homestretch before the much anticipated bedtime. So tonight I pulled out a winner using all the leftovers I could muster to pull off chicken quesadillas. So the half eaten tortilla picture reminds me that today was another "W"- chalk it up!

Props to all you parents out there in the trenches! 

Football

Sports will never be anything more than the candy section of life.

But I like sugar. And this is the best time of the year for a sugar high.

So here's an open letter to all you sugar addicts...

Viking fan- My condolences to you. You never thought the day would come when you would envy a team with a Cardinal on their helmet. But that day has come. All you have to look forward to is another team in '09 on the cutting edge of mediocrity. Look on the bright side...9-7 isn't all that bad when you've got the best running back in NFL on your team (too bad the guy handing him the ball has no business being in the NFL).

Husker fan- Oh how times have changed. We're overjoyed by a 9 win season and a New Year's bowl victory? Yep. Take what we can get these days. But the future is bright. Cheers! Oh yeah, and based on the post game interview with Ron Brown, it sounds like revival is breaking out on the team. That dude is so unashamed of Jesus.

Charger fan- I'm so glad for you. You got the perfect ending to the season- another shot at Denver at home (Ed Hochuli, you're off the hook!), then you took Indy out in OT. Nice. BTW: With the way Sproles looked, don't be bummed LT is out. 

Cyclone fan- I'm trying to be optimistic, but it's tough these days. Hilton magic isn't quite as magical. Jack Trice has been a home for blowouts. We had one of the worst weeks in history (losing to the Hawkeyes in everything, losing our football coach, etc.). But the sun will come out tomorrow...maybe.

Big 12 fan- If Texas and Oklahoma lose, it will be Big 12 exposure. That would be terrible. In that case, we should all feel bad for USC (I don't like them, either) and the Pac 10 for piling on about how terrible they were. Then they go off and go undefeated in the bowl games. 

That's all the sugar I can handle for now.