Jaze

Oh no!

2011-11-25T13:28:00.001-06:00

Help me people! How can I stop time so that I don't have to age another year? This is important as in less that 24 hours I'm turning...gulp...32 years old. The nice thing is that I don't think I feel like 32 yet. To be honest I don't know what 32 is supposed to feel like, but I don't think I feel it yet. Maybe I'll know more about it tomorrow!

Work Matters (Highlights #1)

2011-11-23T08:59:00.000-06:00

I just started this book by the senior pastor of the church that I worship at. It's about work and how it really matters, if you couldn't tell from the title :)

Ch 1 starts off talking about how God is a God of creation and is a worker as described in Gen.2 By logical thought, if God is a creator/worker and we are created in His image, then we must be creator/workers as well.

Tom continues to break down parts of Genesis to see how we are created to work and how we were initially designed to take place and work in his creation (earth).

He also takes a look at the movie WALL-E and says that the picture that this movie paints of humanity's possible existence is NOT how we should be. This movie, although cute has always left a bitter taste in my mouth because it hits close to home. I've always considered myself to a very strong worker. Which in contrast means when I take a day off a take a day off and it too often goes to waste. I know I need to learn how to do a better job of being in moderation of work and rest.

The biggest part to grasp for me to apply is that I'm working for an Audience of One, God. Since starting the book, a running verse kept coming up in my head (Col.3:23-24) which Tom did eventually bring into the discussion.

A nice point that Tom makes is that work matters because were created to take part in vocation along with God. Therefore we should do it well :)

I am a teacher. So while underpaid for the hours of work I put in (sometimes 14-16 per day) I've always known that my work matters. But it's nice to get a Biblical/creation side of the story. Usually I think of my job as contributing to the "common good" or I think of helping out certain individuals. Sadly I confess that I do not often think of my work as taking part in laboring with God in His design. A challenging yet refreshing thought!

Blogging Again

2011-11-23T08:42:00.000-06:00

I really like Face Book, but feel the need to really share at more length what is taking place in my life. So if you're curious to follow my life through the ups and downs join aboard. Life is a wildly curious and exciting ride and I don't think my life is any different than anyone else's so hang on!

Time for a re-design!

2010-11-14T07:42:00.002-06:00

Okay, In the next few months I'm going to try and re-design this thing and to actually use it again. I'm hoping Blogger has a nice way of archiving old posts by now. This was my #1 complaint that I had and I'm not smart enough to fix it. My hope is to figure it out and to start actively using this again to keep people updated on my life and what inform people of what goes on in my head (sometimes a scary place). I'll announce via Face Book one it is where I like it!

"Spring" break?

2010-03-21T07:30:00.002-05:00

Spring break is almost over, and it finally turned spring on the calendar. You wouldn't know it by the weather though. I don't know how much snow we have, except that it snowed about 3 inches Friday night and snowed all day yesterday. I'll be digging out before club this morning!

I'm behind in my reading, but anticipate getting caught up soon. I've finished "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and "Eklesia". It's not on to a book by Dann Spader and Gary Mayes. That will get started maybe tonight, but realistically it'll wait until tomorrow.

Today my goals are to get ready for going back to teaching at school, and to take my coaching test today online for softball. For those not in the know, I am the new head coach of the softball team where I coach. Go Sabres! Speaking of my school, not only are we ranked #63 academically by US News, but we also won the men's 4A basketball tournament. Now we have brains & brawn, with the hardware to prove it! Great school, great staff, and great students.

As for the house, we have a new inhabitant and a new upgrade. We have purchase an ornery little gal called Lilly. She's a golden hamster that is the fastest rodent this side of the Mississip'. The upgrade is a garage door that we had installed just in time for the snow storm! It actually seals with the garage, much to the dismay of neighborhood rodents and birds :(

Off to shovel some spring-time snow!

Heroes

2010-01-16T07:51:00.002-06:00

As I've watched society over the years, especially children, I've come to realize that everyone has a hero in their life. It may be a family member or someone famous on television, probably an athelete. The question is "What do you do when your hero fails?" At a younger age, my hero was Earvin "Magic" Johnson. I learned at an early age that you cannot put your trust in earthly heroes. They will fail you. Unlike the movies, your hero will not always come in in the nick of time to save the day.

Many people have had to learn that lesson as of late. Maybe their hero was Tiger Woods or Mark McGwire. For different reasons, their hero status has been not just tarnished, but destroyed. So what is one to do? I believe we all have a place for heroes in our heart that wants to be filled. Everybody wants someone to believe and hope in, but even if they come through this time, chances are they won't do it the next.

Again, I lost my hero at an early age, for which I am so thankful. I learned that what I thought was great is actually rubbish. So, I found the best hero of all, Jesus Christ. He was and is the perfect hero. He never did anything wrong. He was 100% pure truth. He always put others before himself and I don't have to worry about His latest scandal. So rather than to put your trust in the vice-ridden athlete, or the disfunctional family member, put your trust in the ultimate hero, Jesus!

New Year's Resolutions

2010-01-06T07:29:00.002-06:00

I really only made one resolution this year. Thus far it has only been acknowledged verbally, so I figured I should get it in writing so I can be accountable to it.

I finished 2009 nine strong by reading 2 good books "Desiring God" by John Piper and "Do Hard Things" by the Harris twins. So without further ado, my resolution is to read 1 book each month. I have a few on my list, but I need to compile a list to make a game plan to stick to. I'm starting off the year with "Uncle Tom's Cabin" Are there any suggestions for books? Things I don't read are the latest, trendies teen books. My life is surrounded by teenagers and I don't want to read their literature, unless it is truly good literature.

I'm hoping to make a list but the end of this week so I can start getting these books or locating them. I have a few books that have really influenced me and want to go back and get a couple of re-reads in!

A book a month may not sound too hard to some, but trust me, with my schedule it will be difficult. I teach upper level science at a top 100 high school in the nation. This takes a lot of time. I'm also now the science olympiad coach and the head softball coach. I'm thinking 1 book every month is pretty ambitious for me, especially since I like challenging books and not Dr. Seuss! (Although I'm always down for some Green Eggs and Ham or the Lorax)

I'll keep you posted!

Thanksgiving Time

2009-11-27T14:13:00.002-06:00

wow! It's been quite a week of reflecting on how awesome God is and how He unnecessarily give us a large portion of blessings.

The week started off last Saturday when some friends of ours, the Jones family came in for a visit. They are from Michigan and are our super best friends of ours. What a cool family, to drive 12 hours to visit us as their sole purpose of travel, on a holiday week at that. They were our first overnight guests to stay in our newly purchased home. They along with their two children stayed with us until just this morning when they took off to the great white north.

Sunday night was the office Christmas party for her place of employment (her dad's office). All employee's (and guests) went to a local dinner theater where we saw "Church Basement Ladies 2." It was a hoot! The show liner was actor Barry Williams (Greg Brady from the Brady Bunch). It was super funny, and actually our second time of seeing the show. It's now one of my favorites!

The rest of the week was spent working, spending time with the Jones' and of course... Thanksgiving. We gorged ourselves at Sandra's parents house until I almost burst open. Waay too much food. Oh! And I had a birthday, on Thanksgiving. Getting old, 30 years old that is! Luckily I don't feel older yet, just fatter. I'll start working on that again on Monday ;)

The rest of the weekend will be spent w/ my fam. in little ol' Caney, KS. What a great little town. It should be quite fun!

Updates soon...

2009-11-19T05:24:00.002-06:00

So, it's been forever since I've updated. As soon as I finished my marathon in Detroit work took over. I'm almost finished with a book by John Piper and will post some thoughts about that. Deep book indeed. My favorite chapters were on worship and suffering of all things. I have about 40 pages left. Hopefully the next book gets here soon!

We're Back!

2009-07-17T19:21:00.003-05:00

We're back from our 1-month stay in East Africa! What an amazing time we had. It's going to be difficult to communicate all that took place either online forum or even in person.

What a life-changing experience. This is the fourth time that I've had the privilege to travel over the past years. While my passport continues to gather stamps, God teacher me how creative He is and how much He loves all people. He also told me that I am loved, even though I don't always show my love for Him. He revealed to me that He wants to know me better and that I've been too content with my relationship with Him. I've plateaued in some sense. I could make excuses as to why: busy schedule, tiredness, blah blah blah. The bottom line is that I need to pursue Him as much as He has pursued me.

We had the opportunity to make many new friends, go on a safari, see monkeys on a college campus as regularly as we see squirrels, and most precious of all, we were privileged enough to be used as tools to bring one of His sheep into the flock. The strangers who traveled with me, I now count them as friends, hopefully for life. I'll forever hold on to the sweet times of worship, giddy laughter, and tears of hurt and sorrow that we all shared together. What great brothers and sisters they all are.

Sandra and I have a lot of stories to tell, so please come and see us. We want to share all that God has done! Or, if we come into your city, please ask us some probing questions. Again, we want to tell the chapters and events that we watched that make up part of His story.

I hope everyone's summer is going extremely well. I'll start posting some pictures soon for you to enjoy Peace!

The King vs MJ

2009-05-23T05:46:00.004-05:00

It's time for a sports related question. Who's better? More accurately put, "which game winning shot is better?" I personally don't think that there's any contest.

Okay, our contestants are the King, LeBron James and his game 2 winning shot from last night. A tough shot indeed as the defender was all up in his grill. But is it really better or even as good as Michael Jordan's game winner against Cleveland from 20 years earlier? I say no way!

LeBron's shot was good, but here's why it is not better than Jordan's. Jordan's shot was with a series on the line. The Bulls of this generation had never been out of the first round yet and it was the decisive game 5. Winner moves on loser goes home. It was also on the road for Jordan and crew. Jordan also had to split a double team AND he was sick prior to the game.

For LeBron, one could argue that the series outcome was dependent on this game, but in reality it was only a game 2 at home. The Cavs have had success before, even making it to the finals previously.

Enough talk. Watch the shots for yourself and compare.

Counting Down!

2009-05-19T07:36:00.002-05:00

Wow! Times seems to fly by in the short term, while looking at the big picture it seems to drag on. No, I'm not talking about a reversal of Einstein's theory of relativity. I'm talking about how there's only a few days left before the end of the school year and only a couple of weeks before Sandra and I head off to Africa! So, in a micro-sense of anticipation, it seems like time is flying by and that I'm not really prepared as much as I would like to be for either. In the macro-sense of anticipation, time is traveling slowly b/c I never thought either event would get here.

I hope all of you are enjoying the warmer weather and enjoying the beautiful creation that Father has made.

Update

2009-03-27T05:57:00.002-05:00

Geeshal it's been forever since I've updated. My apologies for alienating all of you who used to read this blog. Life has been super busy as of late. But I'm going to try to make blogging a higher priority from now. It obviously won't be my top priority, that would be wierd. But higher than it has been should suffice.

So I'd find rather impossible to update you on what transpired in the 5 months since my last post. So I just won't try. Christmas came and went. And then work kicked my butt for some reason during the 3rd quarter. Spring break was a great blessing in multiple ways. Sandra and I traveled to Michigan to lots of great friends. It also woke me up out of the comma that I had fallen into over the winter months.

My dad just turned 60 and now I learn that spring will never officially come this year. The weather is simply going to tease us with spring and then dump a bunch of snow on everything that tried to bloom and find life. I suppose it will melt. In fact we are in Kansas so it will probably melt within like 2 days to be followed up by flooding, 80 degree highs and sever thunderstorms. It is Kansas after all!

Update

2008-10-26T08:44:00.002-05:00

I apologize for not updating this guy sooner. It seems as if it's been forever. My new job here in K.C. has definitely been a time consuming burden on me since August, but it's great to be in the teaching field once again.

So, here we are in Kansas City. Sandra and I continue to look for the church where Father wants to be at. We haven't found it yet (at least we don't think so) so we are continuing to look around. There are just so many to look at! Some of the things that we are looking for in a church is first, Godly leadership, preaching the word (w/o trying to water it down or dress it up), a Sunday school class of young married couples starting families, and the list goes on. You would be amazed at how many churches we've visited that we've "hear good things about" and left scratching our heads as to what we just heard. It seems many churches want to put on a good show, but show little if any reverence towards God. I mean, He is the creator of the universe is He not?

The past week has been a crazy busy one. Last Sunday was my marathon in Detroit, MI. I ran a new PR at 3:44:27. That's like 9 minutes faster than anything I've ran before! We had a great time as several of our Michigan friends came down to Detroit and visited us and helped cheer me on towards success. It was nice to travel to Michigan and back at a leisurely pace for a change and to actually enjoy the hotel that one pays so much for.

As soon as we got back my schedule again got nasty as I got waaaaay behind in grading papers and our 9-week grades were due on Thursday morning. Not the kind of way you want to recover after a marathon. But, with some help from Sandra I survived the week.

Hopefully things will slow down a bit soon and we can start to visit our Kansas friends before the busy holiday season cranks up here soon. After all Christmas songs on the radio will start next Saturday! Crazy.

The Big News

2008-07-22T13:10:00.003-05:00

Well, many of you already know what the big news is, but just so we're all on the same page: Sandra and I are moving to Kansas City. I have accepted a job offer in the KCK school district to teach high school chemistry and physics at a local high school.

It will be so nice to be teaching again. I haven't taught since May 2005 so it'll be a stretching time getting back into the groove of things. This decision was not made easily. If you were in touch with us last year, we turned down several job offers in order to stay in Michigan with our friends, church and ministries. Welp, after being turned down by a nearby school here in Michigan we decided to make the leap. I don't want to say that K.C. was the final backup plan, but, well....teaching in K.C. is our final backup plan. I would have a mess of a problem in renewing my teaching license for Kansas if I don't teach the following 2 school years so there it is. It's necessary for the time being.

With that, we are very sad (unexplainably so really) to be leaving our lives here in Michigan. We are also excited to see what God has in store for us down in K.C. I'm not a city person, but I'll make my best effort for now. We're also excited to back closer to our families and some of older friends (length of relationship, not age). So there you have it! Now we just need to pack up our things, say about 110 goodbyes, report to several of our pastors, leave Sandra's job well, find a place to live, move, unpack, open new bank accounts, close the old bank accounts, set up our new apartment and get ready to start the school year all in about 15 days time. No problem!

As promised I'll post a few pictures from our summer adventures. I'm waiting on some of our travelmates' pictures to show up online to get some really good ones. My camera started to die on the trip and is now officially dead to me so we have a limited amount of pictures to choose from. Anyways, I'll post a few of them from time to time. Peace out and I hope to see some of you Kansas folk soon!

Our awesome little hotel was on top of a hill on the north side of the town:

The backdroup of our fair town that we stayed in. This
was the view out of our hotel window at dawn.

This is where we ate breakfast at every morning.
Notice the grapevine-covered terrace!

We even had our own volcanic backdrop on the horizon

The landscape in the area is ver unique. All around there are buildings and homes,
both past and present carved into the rock formations.

This a picture of me trying to get out of a passage in an underground city. It may not look tight, but it got tighter and darker the further back I went. I traveled probably a good 30-40 yards before I turned around. Next time I'll dress for the conditions and see how far back I can go!

We're Back

2008-07-15T13:48:00.002-05:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that we are back from our two-week trip to the Middle East! Everything went very well. We'll bring up some pictures on here in the upcoming days. Also, we have some big news that I will be sharing on here very soon. But for now, I'll just leave you in much anticipation :D

Spring Time

2008-03-28T08:59:00.002-05:00

While most people reading this will be experiencing spring in full bloom, here in Michigan it's still cold. It's true that Michigan has two seasons, winter and road construction season. After all, one must fix all of the damage that has been incurred thanks to winter!

I hope everyone had an awesome Easter celebration. We did despite the snow flurries (we just missed out on a foot of snow to our south). We celebrated Christ's resurrection by attending services at our church. Several of our international friends decided they wanted to come too. I know surely a lot of it was confusing and foreign to them, but they really seemed inquisitive to learn about all that we were doing. They asked many great questions, including questions about baptism after 3 people got baptised during our service.

We followed that up by enjoying an Easter dinner with a couple that are dear friends of our ours from church. Good company + good food always equals a great time :)

We're looking forward to when it will actually warm up, the grass will turn green and the Wal-Mart parking lot will be snow free and completely drivable again. I'm guessing that should be coming up hopefully before May. Seriously!

March Madness!

2008-03-22T07:18:00.002-05:00

Well, it's finally here. March Madness otherwise known as the NCAA Basketball tournament. The time of year wear people don their school colors and cheer as loud as they can unitl they can't talk anymore. I remember my days in the KSU marching band. Screaming as lound and for as long as my voice would hold out. Dancing when things went well and being frustrated with the play calling when things didn't go so well.

Now, I admit it, I'm a big baskeball fan. I always have been. I used to be a lot worse in my younger days, but things have changed a bit over the years.

It's also Easter weekend, a time of both reflection and celebration. As Christians we should reflect on God's huge sacrifice. The more I think about what He did, the less I can wrap my mind around it. Giving up Your Son for a bunch of rebellers. Giving up yourself for someone you love would be hard enough, but God's came from the other side of the sacrificial spectrum. We should also be clebrating in a BIG way! After all the MVP of the story is Jesus and He lives today! He conquered both death and sin and lives again!

So why do we get so excited about the NCAA tournament and only semi-excited about celebrating Jesus? Let's see, making a 3-pointer at the buzzer or being raised from the dead? Making a shot that you've practiced all your life or defeating sin? Sure, it's fun to get excited about your team doing well, but we should be get that much more excited about Jesus and what He did. We should be cheering and shouting and dancing in the isles. If you want a good example of what this should look like look at David's example. The kid was dancing with all of his might when bringing back the Arc in 2 Samuel 5-6. Saul's daughter even said as much. It reminds me of an old White Cross song, "Dancing In Heaven" Why shouldn't we act this way and celebrate with all our might.? That's what we'll be doing in heaven after all, celebrating God.

Enjoy your Easter celebrations with families and friends. Remember this Sunday and every other day we should be dancing before the Lord and celebrating with all of our might like David did. The battle is won. God already has the victory in the biggest game and it isn't on ESPN classic.

Cold weekend fun!

2008-01-30T19:41:00.000-06:00

This past weekend Sandra and I decided to get out of town and have some fun. We drove down to East Lansing to spend our afternoon watching the Harlem Globetrotters!

On our way home we were just about ready to pass by the exit for Frankenmuth when I suddenly remembered Snow Fest!!! I've never been before, and quite frankly I didn't know what to expect, but we decided to be spontaneous for a change so we went for it. To our surprise Snow Fest was awesome! All along the main highway through town were ice scupltures just off of the sidewalks. When we got to the main area for snow fest there were snow sculputures too. We even got to stand and watch some of the artists as they build their ice sculpures. Check out the pictures from our weekend!

The Globe Trotters are getting introduced

Globe Trotters doing their thing

Me hanging out with a frozen squirrel. Darn Michigan winters!

Elephant snow sculptures

An ice sculpture in the makings. We think it's a peacock!

Polar bears!

A monster T-rex

Winter and weddings.

2008-01-18T08:30:00.000-06:00

So, it's Michigan and it's January. Lately the weather has been way too mild for winter, but I guess all of that is going down the tubes. It's already chilly and it's just supposed to get colder this weekend. Yes! Bring it on!

The problem is that we have a wedding to attend just outside of town. Normally this wouldn't be a problem for those in attendence. Sure it would be cold for those wearing dresses and standing upfront, but the rest of the attendees would be nice and warm. But this wedding just happens to be in a barn.

Growing up in small town Kansas, I've spent a good deal of time in barns. I've done many activities in barns including working, napping, dancing, fixing cars, watching other people fix cars, jumping on trampolines and much, much more. But I've never been to a wedding in a barn. Before you get too crazy of a mental picture, I must admit that this is the cleanest barn that I've ever visited. I mean, it actually has floors and there are no holes in the walls. The doors and windows even work like they should. I know, crazy isn't it!

It should be a good time as the couple being wed have become good friends of ours. I'm thinking that there are some people out there who would be confused and maybe even disturbed by the idea of a barn wedding, but I for one think it's a grand idea. It's going to be cold, a bit itchy, and maybe a bit stinky. But it will also be distinct, memorable, a good time, and a beautiful start to a wonderful gift called marriage.

Christmas Time

2007-12-19T10:44:00.000-06:00

Wow! Christmas is almost here. It seems that it was just yesterday when I was awed at how early retail stores put out their Christmas displays. The weather in Michigan has been "Christmasy" for almost 3 weeks now which definitely helps get one in the mood. Believe it or not all of our shopping is even done a week early too!

Sandra and I went to a Celtic Christmas concert performed by The Blair Band. It was snowing outside while they performed many tunes inside to help the audience focus on just what an amazing event this thing called Christmas is celebrating, Christ's birth. You can spin it how you want, but even the world's largest Christmas store (Bronner's) recognizes how amazing this event was.

FYI, Sandra and I will be traveling around in Kansas for the holidays so if you'd like to hook up let me know. We'll be all over the state starting on Saturday the 22nd and will head back to Michigan on New Year's Day. We would love it if we could sit down over a meal or a warm beverage and catch up.

If I don't post in the next few days, I hope you have an awesome Christmas celebration!

Overdue update

2007-12-10T07:37:00.000-06:00

Wow! It's been waaay too long since I've written an update on here. So without further ado:

A lot has taken place since the marathon. Sandra and I have officially take over as the leaders of our small church. (Think Sunday school class size, but actually functions as a little church). With this comes many new responsibilities but we think it will be a great learning experience.

We also traveled back to Kansas for Thanksgiving to be with both of our families and I've turned another year older!

Table 1

Table 2

The "kids" going bowling Thanksgiving night!

This past weekend, Sandra and I celebrated the holiday season by having a traditional Thanksgiving-style meal with two Chinese friends, Xiung and Bai Lu. It was our first attempt at such a meal and it turned out pretty darn good. We had a great time spending time with them and talking about cultural differences and the origins of each others' different celebrations.

Sandra looking for treasure inside Tom

The final product!

Marathoning, Detroit Style!

2007-10-26T12:35:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday was again the Detroit marathon. It was actually the 30th running of it, but for me it was only the 2nd. Things seemed to go a lot better this time and I simply laid back and enjoyed it.

My goal this year was 3:45. Last year I ran it in 3:55:56, and crashed somewhere near mile 18 or so. I figured 10 minutes off of last year's time was a good goal. The problem with that is my training has been yucky since Labor Day. I can't begin to go into all of the details, but yeah.

I drove down to Detroit realistically just looking to improve from my inaugural run last year. The expo is always a lot of fun. The conference center is buzzing with excitement and there are a lot of sports snacks to try :) There was even a clock that was counting down the time until the gun.

Posing after waaaaaay too many energy snacks!

I must learn to go out and eat earlier the night before the race. Not only was there a race the next day, there was also a football game w/ a 1:00 kickoff so there were a lot of extra people in town that night filling up the restaurants.

What I look like before a marathon

As for the race, I went out slow. Again, my goal was 3:45. This translates to 8:35/mile. I was so doing that throughout the race. I actually started a bit slower than that and waited until after the Ambassador Bridge (from USA to Canada) to work up to my desired pace. I think this helped me out A TON!!!

At the half way mark I was 1 sec. off of my pace, which blows me away that anyone can be that close after 13 miles and change. I was stayed just ahead of the pace I wanted until somewhere in between miles 22 and 23. With about 2 miles to go I was completely tanked out and it felt like I was trying to run while Hulk Hogan was trying to grab me by gripping my hamstring and squeezing. It stunk.

Finish lines a comin' !

Somehow, despite running a pitiful last two miles my time came out to be, drum roll.............. 3:53:25. It was nowhere near my initial goal, but it satisfies my revised goal of bettering my time from last year by about 2 and 1/2 minutes.

If you click on the logo it will take you to the results page if you're interested in all of the results with splits and such. The most interesting of which is the "underwater mile" split which is taken as we run back to the USA through a very warm and humid chunnel.

What I look like after a marathon. Notice the hardware!!!

It's about go time!

2007-10-17T13:37:00.000-05:00

Welp, here we go. For better or for worse, this is the week for the Detroit Marathon. I can't say that I feel ready for it, but it's here as of Sunday.

For about the last month I've been fighting schedules, colds, injuries and lack of motivation. My training has been kind of poopy as it was this time last year. It seems that at least mentally, I tend to peak out with my labor day 10k. I'm not sure how to fix that though.

I've recently found out that the finish is different from previous years as it will not be in Ford Field this year. Some genius scheduled a marathon the same day as a football game. I'm not for sure why this occurred. The date is a week earlier than last year. If the organizers would have kept the same weekend, then the Lions would be at an away game which means the change wouldn't have to be made. I think the finish was awesome for both runners and spectators alike. Hmm...maybe they'll fix it from now on! Traffic and parking should be interesting thanks to the scheduling mishap.

The temperature should be a bit warmer than I want it to be, but at least it won't be as bad as the runner's had it in Chicago. Yuck! We'll see how much I've learned since last year (my first marathon). I ran it in 3:55:55 last year, and despite the past month of mediocre training, I think I should beat that. I'm hoping for somehwere in the 3:45 range. If I can stay patient at the beginning I'll be fine. Knowing ahead of time how steep the Ambassador Bridge is and that the Rocky theme song will be repetitively blared out from people's cars will help me be a bit more prepared this year. Wish me luck!

Culturally Aware

2007-10-02T12:53:00.000-05:00

Here's something that I read that made me rather sad and laugh all at the same time. Last week I read online the Beyonce Knowles was going to Malaysia to put on a concert. "Cool!" I thought. An American pop artist is going to an Asian country to perform. Especially cool since I know several people that are from Malaysia that came to the 'States to study and to work for a few years.

Well, all of that has now changed. She is no longer going to perform in Kuala Lumpur because the officials there wanted her to be a bit more modest than she's comfortable with when it comes to her clothing atire. I thought Beyonce was a singer, not simplly eye candy for a paying audience, but maybe I was wrong. She either thinks waaaay to highly of herself and believes that somehow by not performing there she is "punishing" them somehow or maybe without flashing a whole lot of skin she's really not that stimulating to her audiences. Hmmm... I bet she's the type of person who gets upset when she travels and nobody speaks English. Either way the result is the same, no Beyonce in Malaysia. She will be performing in Indonesia instead

I'm curious, was she really not aware that Malaysia is a more socially conservative nation or did she think they would change for her? I applaud the officials in Malaysia for this one. If only somebody would censor Madonna the world would be a better place. I'm not a big censor person because I do believe in free speech and taking creative liberties, but I think it's a different creature when it comes to outdoor concerts. That's because one can be involuntarily subjected to Sting and the Police's reunion concert or have their mind numbed by Madonna...well doing it is whatever she does. Congrats Malaysia on not giving in to this diva and letting your cultural morals slip just so she can feel important and remind the world how loose our nations' morals can sometimes be.

Balloon Fest and car show!!!

2007-09-21T13:32:00.000-05:00

Whah?!?! Can it be? A balloon festival and a car show all in one morning? In the same town? Is that even possible?

Yes, yes it is. Welcome to Midland, MI. Last Saturday was the local balloon festival and a car show all in one morning. Although the weather was quite frigid for mid-September we had a blast watching balloons magically take on life and fly off into the crystal blue skies to the east, all while drinking our hot cocoa :) Afterwards we went downtown where the car show was just starting to rev up. Our favorites were the vintage fire truck and Barney Fife-esque police car. As far as balloons go, it's hard to have a favorite but Sugar Bear, Garfield, the double cheeseburge and the little pirate were all fun balloons to watch. This is definitely the weekend to stay off the roads as a lot of in-town drivers are paying no attention at all to the task at hand. Rather they are looking up and watching the balloons. Yikes!

Labor Day weekend fun!

2007-09-10T14:29:00.000-05:00

Whew! Things have so busy up here lately. I apologize for being a bad updater. I know because of us being in Michigan, this blog is sometimes the only way that some of you know that we're alive and well. Hopefully I'll get more back on track soon with regular updates about what we're doing and thinking now that summer is over. It could be that the author's brain decided to check out with all of the summer buzz. It's a distinct possibility.

For Labor Day weekend we did several things. The biggest was going hiking in the UP. Sandra and I traveled the to Porcupine Mountains (aka the Porkies) and hiked around there. All in all we spent two nights and hiked about 20 miles that weekend. If I was forced to compare what I saw of the Porkies to what I've seen of Pictured Rocks (also in the UP) I would have to recommend Pictured Rocks before the Porkies. For us the Prokies were a much further drive, the trails were not as well maintained, and a good section of the trails didn't have any kind of natural water access. I'm also a bit of a sucker for the cool looking rocks and ores from which Pictured Rocks is named after. With that said, we had a great time while there and despite the 8 hr drive, it was well worth it. The first night was spend camping just far enough from Lake Superior that we wouldn't get wet. The crashing water (imagine the ocean) all night long made for some wonderful ambient noise that night.

The second night we camped just off a natural bluff that overlooked an amazing virgin forest (never before logged). It's been a long time since I've seen a night so clear and full of so many stars. We just about had the entire celestial sphere to our viewing, a feat that I would love to recreate often.

After hiking we made the long drive back home so that after a good night's sleep we could hit the road in the name of competition. While Sandra competed in the 5K competitive walk, I ran the 10k run. Click on BARC Labor Day for our results. While we did well, keep in mind we could have done even better.(Remember hiking 20 miles with 35 lbs on your back can make you sore )

Below are some of the pictures that I took while out camping. Enjoy!

Ahh, this is the begining of our journey

The lakeshore where we took a break

Sandra is relaxing after after Day !

The first of many sunset pictures, Day 1

My favorite of the sunset pictures, Day 1

This is the view of the ridge that we camped next to after Day 2

A view from above Lake of the Clouds, Day 3!

Clarence's new trick

2007-08-07T12:20:00.000-05:00

While the rest of the country is sweating it out, Michigan is enjoying temps in the 80's as of late. This means that outdoor activities are a must! Lately we've gone on picnics with friends, gone swimming at the local lakes, enjoyed cookouts and have taken part in many ice cream runs :)

Also we recently helped out at a local outdoor event at the park. Through The ROCK, an organization that ministers to local youth, Sandra and I had the opportunity to give back a bit. We helped run some of the inflatable climbing equipment and helped with the offering during the concert. The concert featured artists: The Turning, Rush of Fools, and Todd Agnew. King of Kings Skateboard Ministries was also there, but we missed out on seeing them.

Our pal Clarence has also had some fun. We bought him a "U-tube" to place on top of his cage. It took him a while to figure it out, or maybe it really was us who had to figure it out. It seems that Clarence won't use it unless we put a treat at the top of it. We usually use a banana chip, one of his favs. It's pretty incredible to see. I wish I could climb verticle inclines! Anyways, watch the video and you'll see what I mean :)

The dog days of...summer?

2007-07-17T12:10:00.000-05:00

So, not much to report on here in Michigan. I'm still waiting for summer to show up though. Today's weather is overcast and 73. While that might sound good to some in the SW, I admit it's a bit depressing to me. You see. I love summer. It's my favorite time of year. Not just b/c of the weather, but also b/c of the lazier attitudes people have. Things just seem to be a bit more relaxed during the warmer months and I like it! I love doing outdoor type things. I love to go swimming at the lakes and having picnics and going to ball games and outdoor concerts and camping and so on. Please summer, show up!

I have an interview tomorrow so hopefully that will go well. I may be a bit out of my league for this job position, but we'll see. I also sent in my application to a couple of more schools who had late openings. Let's pray that something comes up!

Well, it's about time to go for a run. I haven't completely decided if I'll be running the Detroit Marathon again this year, but I'm still training just in case I go for it. This week holds 26 miles Monday through Friday topped off with a 16-miler for desert on Saturday morning. Whoopee!!!

Painful decisions (long)

2007-07-11T10:35:00.000-05:00

Well, despite being offered a great job in Lawrence, KS we have decided to stay put here in Michigan. I can honestly say that this was the toughest decision that I've ever had to make before. How did this situation come about?

It all started two weeks ago. I received a phone call from a school in Lawrence saying that they had a job opening and asked if I would be interested. Of course I said yes! My first real contact was a phone interview w/ the head principal. Everything went well and he asked if I could come down for a 2nd interview. So we planned to that the following Friday (July 6th) In the meantime, I interviewed for a school district near Midland, but got turned down. In my head I'm now thinking we might be leaving for Lawrence.

Fast forward to Friday: The interview went well and I got a lot of questions answered. They then offered me the job. Great! I thought. Now what?

I flew home to my wife Sandra and we talked it over. After crunching the numbers in our budget, I was quickly reminded that teachers don't make a whole lot and with grad school freshly completed we didn't have a whole lot of breathing space as far as affordable living conditions go. So, back to the bargaining table. I asked the school about coaching positions and they said yes. Great! Now we will have a little bit more money per month but a large question mark was still where we would live. We would have 3 weeks to look for a home, Sandra to quit her job, for us to say all of out goodbyes, and to pack up and move back to Kansas knowing full well that our budget was about to be cut in half....and then the kicker.

I was supposed to give them my answer yesterday afternoon. I was already to call and say yes with many mixed emotions about leaving our many, loved Michigan friends. Together, Sandra and I have made Michigan our "home" since it is the only place that we have lived together as one. Before I called, I myself received a call and was told that I now have an interview for a position 30 miles down the road next Wednesday. But Lawrence needed to know TODAY! God has interesting timing.

Maybe this new position will work out. Maybe it won't, but to say goodbye to people we love w/ the option of staying and being employed was overwhelming me. I just couldn't do it. So, now Sandra and I have a game plan. For those who care (and you must if you've been reading this long) I'm interviewing for the position in Clare, MI. If I get it wonderful things happen! If I don't get it, then I'll work where I can, preferably in the local school district as a para-pro or something. In the meantime, Sandra has one more year of work left, and then I've promised that she never has to work again if she doesn't want to. In other words, she'll probably have one more year left at Dow Corning and then she'll call it quits. This way we can afford a better housing situation in the future and get a good jump start on retirement savings Why? B/c we really want to start our own family soon, but under the best possible situation.

If the Clare job doesn't work out, then we'll start this whole bi-state job searching thing again :( But we'll probably be a bit less picky next time around with it knowing that it's my time to bring home the bacon, and Sandra will be done with her job one way or another. At least then we'll have a bit more saved up for housing.

Keep praying for us as I'm feeling physically ill after all of the worrying that has taken place on this emotional roller coaster. Thanks all!

The finished product!

2007-07-03T16:38:00.000-05:00

So a week or so we decided that we would "turn Amish" and make our own strawberry jam. Let me tell you this stuff is delicious! We were hoping to find a place where we could pay a small fee and simply pick our own strawberries, but that proved a bit harder than we had originally thought. We'll have to get a bit more serious when it comes time for blackberries :)

Speaking of finshed products, Sandra's hair was finally long enough to get it cut for Locks of Love. She had over 11 inches cut off this past weekend! While it's a big change, I think she looks even cuter than before :p Of course, we have before and after pictures.

The Bay City firworks are tonight which I have been anticipating for about a week now. They put on quite a kickin' show for a small Michigan town. Maybe I'll try to get some poor quality video of this event from my camera so you can get a taste of it.

Camping and the good Doctor

2007-06-22T09:40:00.000-05:00

This week we were blessed with a visit from our good friend Ryan. Him and I went backpacking through the Pictured Rocks area up in the U.P. Afterwards we got a chance to hang out and chat and I showed him the local sights. We even saw the General Lee for sale in Frankenmuth!
With the previous post I totally forgot to mention the concert that Sandra and I had the chance to go to. We got to see the legendary Dr. John, who is possibly my favorite artist. For those who are not very jazz/blues educated, Dr. John is a pianist and singer whose music could be described as psychedelic/blues/voodoo jazz. Exactly. All I can say is listen to him and you'll know what I mean. If you've ever seen the movie Blues Brothers 2000, he sings the song about the voodoo queen down in LA. He also plays with the All-Star band led by Paul Shaffer. While you may not want him to have a big influence on your kids' lives, his music is simply amazing. We both had a blast as he puts on quite a show!
For anyone who has been following my recent job search, I have an interview up here for a chemistry teaching position. Finally! The market is extremely tough and the economy is pretty crummy, so I am very thankful just knowing that I have an interview (although interviews don't pay bills). We will see what Father has in store for us soon!

What we've been up to

2007-06-18T13:22:00.000-05:00

Whew! It's summer time and Sandra and I have been taking full advantage of the the weather to get out and do things with friends and family. Where do I start?

I guess the first thing is visiting family and friends back in Kansas for Memorial Weekend. This is one of my favorite holidays of the year as not only is it a time for barbecue and festivals, but it's also a time of remembrance for those who have served in the armed forces and have now passed on. Each year I try to go and visit my little town's celebration of this holiday. Below is a picture of what this looks like!

We also went to watch the Lenni-Lenape pow-wow that weeken.d What a fun event this is! While I'm only a portion Deleware Indian, it's still a great time to watch a culture get together and celebrate.

On our way back from Kansas we decided to adventurous and we detoured to see the birth place of John Wayne.

Finally, this past weekend was our Anniversary celebration. We decided to celebrate by going to our first ever NASCAR race. Our friend Kevin K. was there along with some of his family. This was simply awesome! We loved the entire experience!!! He had great seats and it ranks very highly among some of the other events that I've gotten to see live. Most events are better on t.v. but I think I would say that NASCAR is much better live. This way you can actually feel the cars when they go by. We had great seats as evidenced by the pictures. Maybe someday I'll have a real camcorder to take cool video with!

Lined up and ready to go!

Not how you win a race :(

Sandy on our way out from the speedway :D

Some pit-stop action!

Kansas the 3rd

2007-05-24T15:50:00.001-05:00

We're leaving to back to Kansas in about an hour or so. This will be the 3rd time in past 5 weeks that we've been in Kansas. This time, we're going down to Caney, KS to visit my family. It should be lots of fun as it is Memorial weekend and that means actual things to do while in Caney!
Afterwards I'll be doing an interview in Tonganoxie, KS for a chemistry position. We'll see what happens. It would be great if someone in Michigan would step it up a bit before we end up having to leave. We love it up here and love our church family so very much. We would hate to leave them.
This is the part where trusting that Father is indeed working for those who wait upon Him becomes so important. Whatever He has planned for us, it will be good.
So I need to start packing, clean Clarence's cage, and head South to the land of Sonic. Mmm...slushies!!!

Celebrations, a farewell, and the job search

2007-05-18T06:22:00.000-05:00

It's been entirely w-a-a-a-a-y too long since I've last updated. I must apologize for those out there who try to use this vehicle to stay up to date with us, things have been crazy busy lately. With that, an update!

The first round of celebrating came with Pam's senior recital on piano (Pam is Sandy's sister) She did a great job with her performance and received many laughs with her last piece which sported a mix of outtakes from an exercise infomercial. It was great! Pam is done with the academic part of her schooling and will next embark on the wild and exciting ride called student teaching in the fall.

The second round of celebrating was done the following week when I graduated ...again. This time with a Master's!!! All of the pictures and such are regarding this event. Hopefully this will mean more than just an extra line added to my resume :)

In between the two celebrations came a sad farewell. Bev Morton (Sandy's grandfather) passed away at the age of 91. While it was very sad to see him go, we know that his earthly pain has ended. I will forever be thankful for the ease of which he accepted me into the family and they way he took a real interest in what I was doing.

And now comes the job search. There are a few possibilities here in Michigan, but none of them are looking very real strong right now. Obviously that could easily change by simply being granted an interview, but for now we are also looking into schools that are in Kansas. Our target areas are Wichita, Manhattan, and the greater Kansas City area. We really love our church here in Midland so it would take an awesome set up to pull us away. Right now I'm just trying to apply to everything I see and waiting on God to show where to go. To paraphrase Isa 64:4- God works for those who wait on Him. I believe that this is the lesson that I'm currently in the midst of learning, how to wait well. Ps 62 is a beautiful chapter about David waiting on God and trusting in Him to work for us. He says in God alone does my heart silently wait. This is definitely true for us as we wait and see where God leads us.

We would still like to go overseas someday if it is His will and we want to be obedient to His calling so that as we make our plans He can direct our steps. More to come soon!

My cake...via Sandy

Mmm...icing

Happy Birthday Sandy!

2007-04-04T16:10:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we celebrated Sandra's birthday. She turned...another year younger :)

It was a surprise party that had a few of our friends over to our apartment for dinner and games. Overall, it was a great end to birthday week.

We also celebrated the passover this past Sunday. Our small church, think Sunday school class, held a Seder dinner. It was the first time that I have had the pleasure of celebrating this is such a fashion. It was very cool to see all of the symbolism that was in place for this meal to remind us of a few of the great and wondrous works that our mighty God has performed. Again, a very cool experience.

School is winding down on the calender, which means the assignments are just cranking up. Hopefully I will come through with flying colors. I would hate for my last semester to be the exception. I'm also trying to find a job at the same time. This is not easy in Michigan, but apparently is very easy if you are in Kansas. I already have an interview in Kansas, but have heard nothing from Michigan. I've only seen one opening thus far, but hopefully there will be a few more before not too long!

Ball Time!

2007-03-15T19:58:00.000-05:00

Today marks Clarence's first adventure outside of his Palace. While not yet quite free, he got to romp around the apartment in his big rollin' ball! It was lots of fun for all of us :)

Hi! My name is Clarence!

2007-03-12T15:01:00.000-05:00

That's what he would say if he could talk. Clarence is our new little pet. He is a golden hampster about 4 inches long or so. He's been very active ever since we brought him home and so far he has been adjusting well. Since we live in an apartment, Clarence is about as big of a pet as we could get w/o having to pay a crazy expensive deposit. There should be lots of fun pictures of our little guy in the future. Here are some of the first ones :)

Stanley too!

2007-03-02T08:15:00.000-06:00

A lot has happened since my last little post. Sandra and I went to see Brian Regan live in East Lansing. He's the best comedian ever and totally cracked us up! Laughter is always such great medicine and we got more than our fair share last Thursday.

Sandra and I, along with our good friends the Whitings, went to church last Sunday at a little Spanish church in Saginaw. We were hoping to go to a Korean church, but figuring out what time their services started was difficult, so we went to the Spanish church instead. The service was in both Spanish and English, and had the cutest little congregation you've ever seen.

When we first got there we were asked by the pastor if any of us were musicians. (hmm....) Of course I told I played a little here and there. Apparently this was the wrong answer, because later in the service when worship time came, the pastor asked me to play some songs. Nuts! Now, I love music. I like to play. The problem that I have is that since I play multiple instruments, I like so many different songs, and I never perform. This results in me never really having any music memorized. When people say "Hey, play something for us" I'm always at a loss. So, the pastor welcomed me up front and handed me his guitar. Gulp! On my way up I spotted a music stand and I started thinking up a plan. If there's some music there then maybe I can play the chords and he could sing them in Spanish. No such luck. All that was there were words, no chords, notes, or tabs. So.....I don't speak Spanish, I have no music, I don't have anything memorized, there are people looking at me while smiling, and I have a guitar in my hand. It was brutal on my nerves, but I'm here to tell the story so it must not have been too bad!

Last and not least, to refer to the title, Stanley too, we are attempting to grow a grapefruit tree from a seed. As you can see he's doing quite well considering we're in Michigan where the sun forgets to shine. The name of our little plant is just that...Stanley too! A picture of our sturdy little sapling is below. I'm not for sure what we'll do with him when he's bigger, but for now we'll simply enjoy his company :)

Stanley too!

Mediocrity

2007-02-15T09:01:00.000-06:00

This is what I've been fighting off this week. Routines are good and all, but mine has been rather blah lately. It would be great if things would pick up a bit. School is school. I'm thinking part of this blah feeling that I have is that it's senioritis all over again. You know the feeling, when you've put in your time and it's just a matter of finishing before you're done. Well, that's me. I'm 5 weeks into my last semester and I'm bored with it already. I'm taking 2 classes from SVSU this semester and then an independent study from CMU. None of the material is new or exciting to me right now. It's just more of the same.
The weather hasn't helped either. Wait let me check. Nope, cold as usual. It's 10:00 and 2 degrees above zero. Whopee! That means another day on the treadmill for me and being the outdoor enthusiast that I am I REALLY don't like treadmills.
I guess the next big thing on the horizon for us is going to Lansing next Thursday night to see comic Brian Regan. I'm not into comics, but Brian is the exception. He's great and I'm looking forward to seeing him live. I'm also greatly looking forward to catching up with a wonderful friend. I know our time will be short lived, but it will be refreshing to see her again. (see you soon Kells!)
That about sums up this week. Except for one thing. NASCAR starts Sunday.! Letting your roots show every once in a while is a good thing... I thnk.

Forest was right

2007-01-30T16:01:00.000-06:00

A movie quote from the 90's that I have heard waaay too often from the movie Forest Gump, no it's not RUN FORREST! Although I have heard that all too often as well. The quote is, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what your going to get."

This is proven true time and time again, but what does that box look like? Is your box filled with chocolates that all look the same as each other or is there a variety of Valentine's chocolates that look eerily like last year's gift? We are all of God's creation, and if you are a true believer in Christ, your box of chocolates are beautiful and often times varied. True, some of life's situations are difficult and they don't look very pretty at first glance, but to God they are beautiful and they glorify Him. So as Christians, let's not live out our lives like a box of cordial cherries (yum!) where everyday looks the same. Live out each day for what it really is, an exciting and beautiful gift and don't miss out on His blessings!

Kudos to Amanda for the beautiful box of chocolates, such an inspiring gift :)

A beautiful box of chocolates!

The most beautiful one = one beautiful day or event.

All is well

2007-01-10T08:53:00.000-06:00

At lest weather wise it is. It has finally gotten cold here, and althoug we haven't gotten a lot of snow yet, we are expected to get some soon :)
Sandra and I had a great time over Christmas break. We went to Kansas where we are both from to visit our families and many, many of our friends. While we were constantly on the move and tired out, it was great to visit friends in K.C., Pittsburg, Caney, Coffeyville, Independence, Manhattan, and Topeka. Sadly there is never enough time to visit everyone on the list, especially since some people were simply not home at the time :( Maybe next time!!!
Sandra is now back to work and I will be starting classes again next week. This should be my last semester of my Master's degree.
For your entertainment, here is a video of nephew Elijah playing with the gift we gave him for Christmas :)

Yikes!

2006-12-21T10:37:00.000-06:00

So it's been like a month since I've updated here. Face it, it's a product of grad school, final projects, and just being busy during the Christmas season.

The good news is that I passed my classes, keeping my 4.0 GPA intact...during grad school at least. I wish I could say the same for my undergrad :(

I've also turned yet another year older on November 26th. I am now 27 years old and my "golden year" is over.

Sandra and I will be leaving for Kansas again on Friday to celebrate Christmas with our families and to hopefully visit a lot of our friends. This has become difficult though b/c of friends being out of town and such. Ironically, we're not going to Urbana this year because we wanted to visit our friends in Kansas. Too bad most of our friends will be at Urbana. Who knew?

I'll leave you with a couple of fun pictures!

Me getting my birthday swats from my dad and Uncle!

My nephew Elijah gettin' ready to sport the G-Man's headdress!

Poll: Christmas Songs

2006-11-21T09:49:00.000-06:00

I won't be near my computer for a while b/c we're traveling to Kansas for Thanksgiving! I thought I would get this started now though as the Christmas songs will be all over the place by the time I get back.

What is you favorite Christmas song?

What is you LEAST favorite Christmas song?

To get the ball rolling I'll start with mine. Favorite is O Holy Night. I love every version of the song that I hear. I just reminds me of the great reverence we should have before Jesus. Least Favorite is Wonderful Christmas by Paul McCartney. Musically, it hurts my head. Also, least favorite is Last Christmas. The song isn't even about Christmas. I also just learned that is it sung by George Michael and Wham! Yet another reason to dislike it for me.

Now it's your turn. Give me both sides of the spectrum, favorite and least favorite. Have fun!

Apparantly we aren't very thankful

2006-11-20T09:10:00.000-06:00

This is my determination as to why the Christmas (or if you're a secular progressive, the "Holiday") season now starts in October. I went shopping the day of Halloween to find cheap candy, only to find that the only candy being sold was Christams themed candy.

Wait a minute! Did I miss something here? Isn't there another holiday between Halloween and Christmas? And even if there wasn't, one would think that it would be dismissable by the common public if the retail stores would wait at least a week or two before the Christmas displays had to come out. This is not the case. Christmas displays are now literally coming out the day of Halloween.

There are two things that I see wrong with this:

#1 The first thing is that we start to exclude Thanksgiving as a holiday. What ever happened to planning a feast, getting together with your family, and counting the blessings that the good Lord has passed down to you? Is doing that not deserving of our time?

#2 The second problem with 8+ weeks of Christmas is that I think it starts to water down what the real celebration is all about. Last I checked, the spelling of the holiday still includes the name of Christ. Yet too often, the common public, including those who claim to be Christians, think of this holiday as Presentmas, which is just giberish. Rather than celebrating the birth of our Saviour, we celebrate what feels good to us, and that's showing off what kind of gadgets we can afford or bragging about how long we waited in line for a PS-3. Celebrating a "season" rather than a holiday greatly downplays the meaning of the holiday itself.

I was strickin with a bag of mixed emotions Thursday night driving home from class. I was flipping through the radio stations and I came across a station that had already started it's 24/7 birage of Christmas music. That means that this station will be playing Christmas music nonstop for at least 39 days! That's even longer than Ramadan! While I love Christmas music, especially the Christ centered songs, I find that this is all part of the ploy of spreading out the "Holidays" and downwatering the day we celebrate Jesus' birth.

While the economy hops itself up on retail sales during the "beat-the-rush", "black Friday", "holiday" and "last minute" sales, I take complete and great joy in knowing that I can celebrate the birth of my Saviour each and everyday of the year. While it does feel good to give to others, and that is what we should be doing, try to focus on who programmed us to feel this response. For those of you confused, that would be God. Also focus on the spelling of this holiday. I'll give you a hint, it starts with Christ!

Operation Christmas Child

2006-11-06T08:07:00.000-06:00

It's that time of year again! It's time for the annual tradition that Sandra and I celebrate when we participate in the Operation Christmas Child program. Each year we take a shoe box and fill it to the max with as much fun and useful items as we can cram! This is the 3rd year that together we have filled a shoebox each to give to children around the world who are less fortunate and who don't know Jesus as their Savior. Sandra has participated in this wonderful yearly ritual for many years, but I only discovered it a few years back. It's headed by Samaritan's Purse which is a relief organization ran by Franklin Graham, Billy Graham's son.
It's really neat to hear and read about the stories how these little boxes full of small trinkets make a child's day, week, and can even change their lives. We received a newsletter a few months back and we quickly recognized Sandra's shoebox that she sent in one of the pictures. IT WAS IN SRI LANKA!!!
Awesome.
We stuff the boxes with a lot of neat stuff. Mine had a stuffed T-Rex, a coloring book with crayons, some toy cars, a bag of suckers, a game, 2 yo-yos, a toothbrush and a tube of toothepaste. We also made cards with our picture on them and wrote them a message of God's love. Samaritan's purse then takes the boxes and puts neat picture story books in them that tell them the Gospel message in their native language. Overall pretty cool.
We are praying for the children who recieve these gifts that through these boxes and the workers on the field, that they may have the hope that we as Christians hold on to so dearly.

Our boxes are ready to travel!

Pumpkin Carving Fun!

2006-11-03T10:57:00.000-06:00

I forgot to show ya'll what our pumpkins looked like this year. Sandra's of course is the cuter one on the left while mine is the one that looks like Slimer from Ghostbusters.

In case you're curious, marathon recovery time seems to be around a week or so. I actually ran a couple of miles yesterday, but I'm like at 75% if I had to guess. Not too bad since it was just Tuesday when I was still using my arms to pull myself up the stairs :)

Awww.....aren't they cute together!

Marathon!

2006-10-30T09:22:00.000-06:00

I DID IT!!! It wasn't pretty to watch, but I finished my first marathon. I was not pleased with my time at all, but I'll chalk this one up as a learning experience for next time. The results: this varies by who you ask. According to my watch that I started once I actually crossed the starting line I ran it in 3:55:55. Nowhere near what I wanted to run, but like I said, it was a good learning experience. I only needed to run 44 minutes and 56 seconds faster to qualify for Boston2007!

Here's the breakdown of the whole race (what I was feeling and thinking):

Saturday Evening: Packet Pick-up and health expo. I'm pretty excited at this point. I don't if I have what it takes or not, but will soon find out. "There's nothing more that I can do at this point to prepare, so relax and enjoy this experience."

Sunday Morning:

5:00 A.M. My alarm was set for 5:30, but I'm a bit too anxious to go back to sleep. "Boy am I glad I got the extra hour of sleep" :)

6:45 A.M. The starting area is very crowded. There's a lot of people running this thing. 15,800 some last I checked. I'm a bit nervous, but I'm pretty sure I won't end up last at least!

7:15 A.M. Off we go! The wind isn't too bad. It's cold, about 35 degrees, but whatever. "I feel like I'm running in slow motion."

Mile 1: I feel good, I thought I was going slow, but I check in at 7:27 for my split. I see my next door neighbor and that's when I know I'm going to fast. He's supposed to finish 30 minutes ahead of me.

Mile 2: 15 minutes flat. Still too fast. I'm trying to slow down, but it's actually hard to do. Some guy parked on the sidewalk has pulled speakers out of mini-van and is blaring the Rocky theme song. "How am I supposed to slow down when hearing that?"

Mile 3.4: Oh my gosh, I'm getting ready to run onto Ambassador bridge and on into Canada. "Marathons are fun!"

Mile 3.8: My legs are not used to hills especially one so long and steep. "Does this bridge ever end?

Mile 4: Legs still burning. "Nope, this bridge never ends. Maybe the rest of the race is all uphill somehow."

Mile 4.2: Canada! There's a guy greeting us on a PA system as we come in. He points at that since Canada uses the metric system we are running 60% faster now.

Miles 5-7.5: The problem with Canada is now that I'm trying to re-establish my pace again after the uphil bridge, they forgot to give us splits. I have no idea how fast I'm running.

Mile 8: The underwater tunnel. This is pretty cool. It's a bit over a mile in length so they actually time this split and report it to you seperately. It's also nice and warm in here. "This race is a piece of cake!"

Mile 11: Okay, I'm starting to hurt a little bit now. The arch in my foot is on fire. Besides that, I'm okay.

Mile 12.5: There goes the half-marathoners for their finish. "Is it too late to switch races?"

Mile 13.2: Half-way there! My split is at 1:42. Faster than my goal pace. "If I can just keep this up I can have a great run!"

Mile 14: Not only are there stations for water and gatorade, but now I see some people set up with a beer station! Hilarious! I'm thinking somehow that the combination of beer and marathons don't mix.

Mile 15: Oh, boy! I feel like I'm going to vomit. Now I must slow down or risk being "that guy" that everyone talks about. I wonder how the people who drank the beer fell?

Mile 17: I no longer feel like I'm going to throw up anymore, but with the wind out on Belle Island, it feels like I'm running in wet sand. Yuck!

Mile 18: Hey, I just got passed by the 3:30 pace setter! Now I know I'm in trouble. Where was that guy at mile 2?

Mile 20: Everything hurts at this point. My glutes, quads, groin, ankles, calves, knees and hamstrings. Especially my hamstrings! I stop and stretch at this point.

Somewhere between 20 and 21: "This has to be the dumbest thing I've ever attempted in my life. No wait, there was this one time I tried to jump a barbed wire fence and didn't make it. Hmm...I'm thinking this might be worse."

Mile 21: I've just beem passed by a guy wearing a tutu. Okay. That makes a guy in a tutu, a woman dressed like supergirl, and a man dressed like a bumble bee whom have all passed me. I can easily see how at this point in the race you might think that you're someone you're not, but to actually dress like it before the race even started? Weird.

Mile 22: At this point my legs have given up. Every once in a while my legs just sort of stop working, I stumble a step or two, and start moving again.

Mile 23: I think I've found a "pace" that I'm finally comfortable with...slow!

I'm drawing my energy off of the spirit stations that are sprinked around. One even had a marching band performing there.

Mile 23.1: I just saw the guy next to me recieve a surprise arial assault from a seagull. I don't think he noticed it though. Shhh......

Mile 24: In a strange turn of events, a police car and an ambulance meet nose to nose trying to go in opposite directions, thus blocking off our path. I easily lose 20-30 seconds and am not happy about it.

Mile 25: We're downtown Detroit again, but where's the finish? "Doesn't this race ever end?"

Ford Field: Ah, the finish. We enter through the tunnel into the stadium which is all downhill. I'm pretty some people fall at this place given the exhaustion and the steepness. At this point my arm swing is nearly in my armpits and I'm trying to slow myself down because I really am out of control. After finishing, I get processed and move through some chutes like a cow off to the market. It's a surreal ending to such a crazy and wild morning. I actually finished a marathon. Woo-hoo!

The end Results: Time 3:56-ish, again, depends who you talk to. 1/2 split: 1:42:20. If you do the math you see that I had a REALLY tough time with the second half of the race :( Underwater mile split: 7:22 It was mostly flat or slightly downhill though :) 136th place for my age group and 1, 261st place overall. One very sore and tired body. Again, it was a great learning experience. Talking to runners after the race I learned that a good strategy is to run negative splits. My strategy was simply to go out and run. Next time I'll be much better prepared and the goal of 3:30 I think will be much easier to achieve.

Me before the race

Looky at what I won!

Me after the race at home :)

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!!

2006-10-24T10:23:00.000-05:00

Yes, there is something special going on this Sunday. Sunday is a day fast approaching in which I will always look back upon in rememberance. Whether the memories made are for the better or the poorer is yet to be seen, but they will be memories netherless. Sunday is the day of my first marathon!
The past week I have been suffering a cold, so things could get interesting. Also motivation to train has been down right zero. It's hard to go out and run a meager 8 miles when you've already ran 20. I like challenging myself, so if the task has no challenge in it, then it is hard for me to see the value of doing it. On top of that, there is also a chance of snow that morning! Not great running weather, especially for this sun-lover :)

There are a ton of obstacles to overcome in order to call my first attempt a success, but either way, this weekend in Detroit should be a memorable one!

On another note, I found out that I may not be graduating from CMU in the spring. The really cool college that I'm attending for my Master's decided it would not offer the last three courses that I needed to take. This is in spite of these courses being on the course rotation schedule for the spring 2007 semester. Thanks CMU! You're cool!!! (sarcasm noted)

I have found two replacement courses from another university that I can transfer in. That leaves one more class that I don't know what to do about. I just sent an e-mail out to the professors pleading for someone to do an indepentdent study with me. This is not normally the way college is done becuase the professors don't get paid for it. I'm praying and hoping that someone will see the value of teaching me, seeing how they are "education" professors. Maybe after I graduate they will hire me to teach there so their work load will be lighter! (zzz...huh?...what? oh, sorry...I must have been dreaming!)

My goal for Sunday is 3:30, which is not fast enough to qualify for Boston. I figured I would just go out and have fun with this one since it is my first time. Maybe if I run well then I will have some motivation to try again. Hopefully next time at a warmer location!

Fun Maps!

2006-10-19T09:36:00.000-05:00

I thought this would be a fun little thing to post on the old blog. It's a map of all the states that I've traveled to.

map from http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedstates

The author also made a map of the world that you can click on and highlight. It's a little depressing though when you look at it. One can travel abroad several times and not really have it show up. It makes one aware of just how big of a place the world really is. My map I admit is a bit decieving though. I really haven't visited Canada yet. I will be doing so (on foot) next weekend when I run the Detoit Marathon though. However, by no means am I exploring the entire land mass of Canada!

map from: http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedcountries

A fun idea would be a world map that you can highlight the cities you've been to. If anyone has this let me know.

If there was one of just towns in Kansas that would be hilarious. I counted one time and I had been to like 2/3 of all towns in Kansas. Scary!

Friday the 13th is to be celebrated!

2006-10-13T08:50:00.000-05:00

"This is the day that the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it." -Psalm 118:24

This is a day that strikes fear in maky people. While some who suffer from paraskavedekatriaphobia will not be able to enjoy today, I know that today is another wonderful day that has been created by the creator and that we should enjoy it!

A study estimates that nearly $900 million dollars will be lost in the U.S. alone because some refuse to fly or to do business on this day. It is a proven fact that for these people who fear this day, yes bad things happen. Mostly it is becuase of the psychological effect that their fear creates. People can actually make themselves sick over this day on the calender. However silly this may seem to us, we are not alone in our society's misguided fears. In Spain they fear Tuesday the 13th, and Tuesdays in general. In China the numbers 4 and 7 are both bad while the numbers 8 and 9 are good.

It's amazing the superstitions that different cultures hold on to. If we don't ship out on the 13th or on Fridays, and Spain doesn't start on Tuesdays, and the Chinese don't start their journeys on the 4th or the 7th, well....it's amazing that anything ever gets done in the realm of international business.

I will say that I find it sad how strong of a hold this kind of fear and blindness can have on people's lives. I find that superstitions often are intertwined with religion and that these futile practices will somehow help one gain prosperity either in this life or the next. If you know anyone of with another religious background other than your own, or know of anyone who is highly superstitious, I challenge you to get to really know what they practice and to try and understand why they practice it. These kinds of conversations open the door for us to talk about spiritual things and can lead to an opening for our Father to work. (Keep in mind though He is not dependent on us, we are dependent on Him)

How great it is to have assurance of our salvation, because of what Jesus did on the cross!

Below is a quick video of what Michigan is like in October. It could me much worse like it is in Buffalo. They got nearly 2 feet of snow last night!

Balloon Fest II !

2006-10-11T14:04:00.000-05:00

So I promised that I would find the pictures from last years balloon festival. I finally did so and finally threw them up on my computer for your enjoyment.

There hasn't been a whole lot of exciting things going on as of late. Last weekend Sandy and I ate breakfast at Omelette's and more, a fun little mom and pop restaurant downtown. It was the first time that I had been there, but I'm thinking I'll be becoming a regular there soon. It's a nice little place to go. Oh, and they serve great coffee! If anyone comes and visits we're definitely taking you there!

School has been bery challenging this year. The assessments and evaluations class has blown me away. I'm not a big statistics person so it's been a tough go. I have a test there tomorrow that is all essay and short answer. That should be fun! My grant writing class has been enjoyable. It's challenged me to think more as an administrator rather than just a student. It's interseting stuff.

In other news, it's supposed to get stinkin' cold soon. It's supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow, but it shouldn't stick. At least I hope not! High tomorrow....a balmy 38! The trick or treaters might be wearing their long johns this year!

I promise next time I'll be a little more thought provoking. My posts often reflect the way I'm living my life at the moment, so yes, I'm a bit scattered and a bit random. After this weekend things should calm down a tiny bit.

p.s. the last picture is of Sandra's favorite balloon :)

Balloon Fest!

2006-09-26T09:37:00.000-05:00

Recently was Midland's hot air balloon festival. This is a festival that takes Midland by storm each September and brings in hundreds of "balloonists" to the area. On Friday night they have what they call "the glow". It's when some of the ballonists unpack their balloons and air them up at night. They don't fly anywhere, but they just fire off their flames to fill up their balloons. Because it's dark out, the flame makes the balloon glow and makes for an incredible evening. On Saturday and Sunday the balloonists compete in several competitions. One that I know of is where each balloon flys around the greater Mid-Michigan area and drops beanbags at large targets painted in designated fields. Unfortunately the weather was too foggy this year and so they didn't take off on Saturday. Sandy did get pictures of one balloon that did get unpacked to give short up-and-down rides to children. The balloonists did get to compete on Sunday however!

The balloon festival makes driving a car just a bit more interesting and definitely more challenging than usual that weekend. Besides the average Joe who is looking up at dozens of balloons and watching them hover gracefully in the sky, each balloon has a spotter team who's job is to follow the balloon from the ground in case there is trouble.(so you know they're not watching the road either) Being in a car is definitely taking your life into your own hands. As if Michigan drivers needed an excuse to drive poorly!

I attached a few of the pictures that Sandy took this year. Somewhere I have pictures from last year's festival as well. If I find those I will be sure to post them. Many of the same balloons show up from year to year and it's a great time to see what fun designs will be floating around. One balloon was in the shape of a house while many others take the shape of popular cartoon animals. If you've ever been curious what the Macy's Thanksgiving parade would look like if the balloons were to get free, this event would give you a pretty good picture of that might look like :)

The past few weeks have been busy ones, but good. My classes are in full swing and a lot of my time has been devoted to that. We had the opportunity to spend an evening playing games and eating snacks with some of our neighbors last weekend. They are a "couple", of people who share an apartment together. They are both handicapped so they usually don't get out much. They are a riot together, but neither are walking with our Father. They both have religious pasts, but neither go to church now. Tony continues to express interest in what it is we believe and how that differs from what he has been taught from his Catholic childhood. He's a great guy, but doesn't have the joy of a Saviour in his life. Please be praying as Sandra and I find openings to talk about Spiritual matters with him.

We've also been crazy busy with our church and are serving as part of a Timothy team. A Timothy team is a team of people who come together and support a couple or family that is preparing to go the mission field. Every person that is sent by our church has a Timothy team in place. We're not for sure what our specific roles are going to be yet, but we are excited to send out an awesome family overseas and to see what this process looks like. We want to know what it looks like to be sent well by the body so we can continue in this work and that we will know what we may need if Father leads us in that direction!

I Still Have It!

2006-09-11T14:08:00.000-05:00

Although I haven't taught since May of '05, judging by this quiz, I learned that grad school hasn't made me lose my mind just yet! Where do you rank? No cheating!!!

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

Pictured Rocks

2006-09-07T06:52:00.000-05:00

"He makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains. They give water to all the beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds of the air nest by the waters; they sing among the branches. He waters the mountains from his upper chambers; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work." Psalm 104:10‑13

This past weekend, Sandra and I went hiking through some beautiful countryside. We went to a place in "da UP" called Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. I highly recommend this place for any who enjoy being in God's wonderful creation, nature. We drove up on Saturday morning, hiked around for 11 miles or so and then settled in for the evening. The next day we finished our trek by going another 5 miles or so. Needless to say that our backs were a bit tired from carrying our packs, but it was so much fun! It really is beautiful up there and it was so inspiring to see the works of the Great Artist, our Creator. He is so imaginative. It reminded me of "the Magician's Nephew", the prequel to the Narnia series when the new world was created. Walking through the forrest and just trying to take in all of the scenery and animals. Unfortunately there were no bear sitings, (sorry mom) but we did see chipmunks, rabbits, bugs, spiders, and a plethora of species of birds. Here are a few pictures to show you what it some of it looks like. We didn't get anywhere near to seeing everything that the area has to offer so I'm guessing we'll go back when it warms up again. I'm also looking forward to hiking the Porcupine mountains area, but agian, it'll have to wait :) If anyone wants to visit us AND have a great outdoor adventure, be sure to come on up to MI for a few days!

Also, after we got back from our adventurous hike, I ran a 10K here in town and survived. I was tired, stiff, and sore after hiking for so long and then driving in a car for 4+ hours, but I managed a 12th place finish overall and 2nd in my age group. I finished in 44:25, not bad considering. This run just confirmed that I think I can successfully finish my upcoming marathon in under 3:30. We will soon find out!

A Picture of us at Chapel Rock

Sandy at Mosquito Falls

Sandy and I on the shores of Lake Superior

Just one reason why the area is called Pictured Rocks

Softball hurts

2006-08-31T09:56:00.000-05:00

I guess it's been a while since I've played before this season. It hasn't been THAT long, but it has been a couple of years.

Last night we played a team who's players I'm pretty good friends with and we lost...again. The big thing is that I jacked my body up a bit while playing. I slid into second and jammed my L ankle and of course scratched up my R shin. My R shin is covered only by old scar tissue and so each time I habitually slide when I look close to being tagged out, my skin just kind of rips open. I had most of it taped up, but apparantly not enough of it. Yuck! I thought it would also be cool to make a first baseman-like stretch (even though I was playing second)to catch the ball and get the out. The problem is that unless one stretches prior to attempting such a manuever, one might tweak a groin muscle. :( Remember I'm in Michigan and it's pretty chilly up here in the evenings already. Yeah, that's it. It couldn't be that I'm just getting older, right? The runner was out however :p

Hopefully I survive the rest of the season injury free and I avoid putting my marathon training in any kind of jeopardy. Maybe this is my body's way of saying "DON'T DO IT!"

Sandra and I have most of our supplies ready to be packed for our hiking trip this weekend. I'm super excited to go treking throught the woods and even more excited that it's supposed to warm up before we get there. The low where we are going was like 40 last night. In my book this is not acceptable until at least October if not even later than that. It should be lots of fun though no matter what the weather is like.

Running the Race

2006-08-27T07:56:00.000-05:00

Okay, So I'm officially doing it. I have entered into the 2006 Detroit Free Press Marathon to be ran on October the 29th. I know, everyone thinks I'm crazy, but it's something I've always wanted to do and the timing is right if I were ever to run one. I've been training for a while, but I didn't want to make any hasty decisions so I waited until I hit 18 miles for a long run (yesterday) to see if I thought I could do it and so, I'm now entered. The entry fee is nonrefundable so I guess I'd better run it eh?

With a new goal in sight and a new chapter currently being written in my storied running career, it's only natural that Paul's words about running the race can be viewed in a new and refreshing light.

In our Christian walks we are to run after our Father in such a way that we may win the prize, or our crown, that is everlasting and will never fade away. In 1Cor 9:25, he says "Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last..." While in today's society of entitlement, everyone seems to be a winner. While everyone who finishes a marathon gets a "finisher's medal", there can still only be one true winner. To be that winner, one must train vigorously. Heck, to get the "finisher's award" one must train very hard as well. There are days where I really don't feel like running. There are even days where I feel like packing it in and not running at all or I feel like turning around short of my goal and going home early. The thing that keeps me going is the feeling of urgency because I only have 9 weeks of training before my race. Just as in my walk, somedays I don't feel like praying. Some days I don't feel like studying Romans until my head explodes. Somedays I'm, just lazy. Some days I avoid people like the plague and I don't reach out to others in my circles of influence. I'm sure I'm not the only one to ever experience this. The problem is that I don't always have the same feelings of urgency to motivate me in my spiritual walk.

Another observation I've made is that in order to win the "prize" one must be in constant training. Just because you have one discipline down it doesn't mean that you can shortcut God somewhere else. This has been made very vivid in my life lately through my running experience. I can be motivated to run 18 miles on Saturday morning, but it takes a huge effort for me run a few miles of speedwork on Thursday afternoons. It's not my strong suit and it's not something I'm comfortable with. Just as in my walk I can wake up consistently at 5:30 in the morning to pray, but if God asks me to confront someone personally and verbally than I drag my feet and make excuses. Again, the deciding factor comes down to what my motivation is and where my obedience level is at.

But remember we are in constant training. While some days we would rather check out, we must be constantly and faithfully running our race. My prayer is that at the end of my life I can say as Paul said in II Tim. while staring down death, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." In order to be able to say that, I must become more obedient to God's calling. When the Spirit pokes me and says go talk to that person, I must be obedient no matter how uncomfortable or awkward it makes me feel. It's all about the motivation: to see God glorified in all situations, both awkward and comfortable. After a lifetime of this obedience, then and only then can I be as Paul and receive the crown of righteousness.

Coffee Quiz!

2006-08-23T11:57:00.000-05:00

I owe this one to my friends Kyle and Carly's blog. Enjoy!

You Are an Iced Coffee

At your best, you are: hyper, modern, and athletic

At your worst, you are: cheap and angsty

You drink coffee when: you're out with friends

Your caffeine addiction level: medium

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Blah, blah, blah

2006-08-22T10:41:00.000-05:00

Nothing real exciting to cover this past week. My classes start up soon so I'm trying to relax for a bit and yet get things done that I said I would do during my 3 weeks away from school. I'm seriously thinking about running a marathon. My training has been going well and Saturday I hit 16 miles. I'm looking at the Detroit marathon at the end of October but I want to wait until after this weekend when I do an 18 miler. I know I can cover the distance of a marathon, but I want to do it well and not just "survive" it.

The fall softball league has started for Sandra and I and our first game was last night. It didn't last very long because we were run-ruled in the 4th inning. I did however go 2/2 with an RBI, but alas we lost anyway. We were missing a lot of our team so hopefully Wednesday night will be better with our full squad in place (minus our normal pitcher). We are also planning on a hiking trip to the U.P. for Labor Day weekend. I'm getting very excited as this day closes in. We're going to be going to Pictured Rocks which is on the shoreline of Lake Superior. I'll have lots of pcs hopefully from that trip so check in for that!

Airshow and family fun!

2006-08-13T18:42:00.000-05:00

So the past week has a been a very busy one indeed. Last weekend was spent watching an airshow in Belleville, Michigan near Detroit. We were invited by one of Sandy's co-workers, Scott, who is an aviation fanatic. It was very exciting to go with him because who could explain everything down to the smallest little detail imaginable.

Then Sandy's family, the Morton's, drove in from Kansas to spend several days of vacation with us. We showed them some of the local attractions, but most of our time was spent in simple relaxation, catching up on each others' lives, playing games and enjoying the company of family. Sandra's brother Matt was missing from the crew as he was preparing for classes to start at K-State :( However, we were blessed with his presence already this summer when he came by himself to visit us on his way back from a Young Life camp in Minnesota where he volunteered much of his summer break.

I survived another week of teaching our Sunday school class at church today. We're in the middle of examining II Timothy and I've had the opportuity to teach a large chunk of it (4 weeks) While we never seem to have enough time to cover all that I have prepared, I really have enjoyed not just the teaching aspect, but have really enjoyed what Father has taught me in my time of preparation. For this I am very thankful.

I tossed in a couple of photos of the air show and family pics for fun!

we found a giant bronze pig!

oooh.......a stealth bomber

a rare p-51 Mustang flying over the WWII reenactment

A picture of the WWII reenactment. All of the tanks are privately owned!

The p-51 Mustang makes another pass!

What we've been up to lately

2006-08-04T10:55:00.000-05:00

We've been up to a lot lately. These pictures are just a few of them. Sandy and I went to a tall ships sail-in recently. We had the opportunity to tour one of the boats that her company was sponsoring for the event. I think she believes that she's driving ;) We also went to a local car show where I finally saw my dream car up-close and personal like. I've always wanted one of these beauties, but they're a little out of my price range. The last photo is of us together exploring the deck of one of the tall ships.

First TIme

2006-08-04T07:49:00.000-05:00

Seriously, this is my first posting. I've fought the technological trend thus far, but since my MA will be in Educational Technology I suppose I should give in :)