August Recap

• Janelle made it 7 years (so far) being married to me
• They make adult Heelys!!!
• The West Virginia wedding
• We attended Willowcreek's Leadership Summit
• Butterbean's first ultrasound

my blog's film rating

Here is my blog's film rating. By the way, all my blogging buddies got a "G". Are you guys even trying?

You can get yours here

Iraq is a quagmire

In 1994, Dick Cheney did an interview on CSpan about the possibility of invading Iraq after Operation Desert Storm. Quite ironic

Shadow Mission

Earlier this month, I attended a couple sessions of the Willowcreek Leadership Summit. My favorite session was by John Ortberg. I have read some of his books (highly recommend by the way) but have never heard him speak. I wasn’t disappointed.
The crux of his session: Our greatest fear is that we fall away from our God-given mission and purpose and drift into what he called our “shadow mission”. A shadow mission is your own mission that is selfish and helps no one. Usually very closely related to your gifting. A mission that is hijacked by your ego and wounds and there is no Jesus in it.
He spoke mostly on the story of Ester. Her shadow mission was to just live comfortably as a queen, but her real mission was to save her people.
The take-away: What’s your shadow mission? Because in order to fulfill your God-given mission you must consciously be able to say no to your shadow mission.

For more info click here

here's your sign

Adjacent to my cube at work is the copier. It services about 75 people in the immediate proximity. It’s also the area where the scores of boxes of paper are kept as well as discarded printer cartridges. Apparently I work with a bunch of slobs because no one ever cleans up after themselves leaving empty boxes (which need to be broken down and taken to the recycle bin) and trash in the area. Every couple of weeks, I finally break down….again…and clean up after them.
Time for a new tactic! Here is the sign I posted today. Lets see how long it takes before management takes it down.

“feel free to leave any cardboard boxes and garbage in this little office wasteland for our friendly gnome to magically pick-up every night…..or..…you could quit being lazy and do it yourself”

Please don’t talk to me in the bathroom

Add this to the list of inappropriate places/times to start a conversation. Right up there with: during an “invasive” physical, in the middle of a golf swing (I hear), and during the movie at a theater. I can’t tell you how many times some guy at work started talking to me from the adjacent urinal. I’m always left with conundrum of whether I should even politely reply (and encourage this unwanted dialogue) or just ignore him (and nip it in the bud….or is it butt?). It isn’t the high school football locker room, matter of fact, pretend that I am not even there.

Quid pro Quo Clairese

wedding

The family went to West Virginia for Janelle’s cousin’s wedding. Most of Janelle’s side of the family is Nazarene (that’s a church denomination by the way) which apparently has a strict “no dancing” policy (it’s like the movie Footloose all over again)….so once the music started the crowd got a bit thin. Needlessly to say, the Pates and the Poffs, known for their partying ways, closed the party down a couple hours later.

Everyone says he looks like me, but I think he is looking more like his mom everyday

A day at the splash pad

Now thats a knife

Stumbled on to my new favorite website: www.firebox.com Not only can you get this Giant Swiss Army Knife with 85 fully functional implements but can also find:
>Rocket Fishing Pole
>A remote control that looks like a gun
>Shock ball
>Desktop war kits

Bellybean

We had our first ultrasound today to get a peek at “butterbean”. Can’t be certain, but I think I see a hint of the infamous Poff chin.

7 and counting

Sunday we celebrated seven years of marriage. I would do another list but it wouldn’t be a lot different from last year. Add another car, another baby, and raising a teenager for a year to our lofty achievements.
Let’s all pause and pray that she (Janelle) will have the strength and patience for at least 7 more.

Bonus: saw the new Bourne movie and it was fantastic. Jason Bourne could be the only person in the world to give Chuck Norris a run for his money.

Kat

One of our blogging buddies Kat who just had a baby has found a cancerous tumor in her leg. She goes in for surgery to have it removed next Friday. We, and I am sure her family, would appreciate you lending a prayer for her.

My Achilles Heelys

For too long I have been writhing in envy when children effortlessly wiz past me on their heelys (the sneakers with wheels in the heel). My fascination with them probably is rooted in my laziness. I have often muttered a prayer to the heavens that either my feet would shrink or that they would make them for adults. Apparently my prayer has been answered (and no, my feet didn’t shrink), and I still have a birthday and Christmas coming up this year.

Table Talk

Janelle and I are in the market for a house and looked at a few with our agent tonight. I was vexed to see that neither house had a kitchen table. No where for the family to eat, drink, and be merry together. One of the houses had a computer and TV in each bedroom. I get the feeling that they don't talk to each other very much. I hope that we always treat dinner as a sacred and valuable time in our family.

July Recap

• Bachelor week: Janelle and Caden went to Ohio, while at home I took off the child safety latches and went to a gun range
• Weekend in Wilmington for a beach trip with Sutphins
• Marathon week with our nephew Tyler in town which included a night of Wii, drive-in movie, baseball game, tubing down a river, and a raining night of camping
• Caden’s first haircut
• Watched 20 stages (3 hours a piece) of the Tour de France. Viva le Tour

Tyler in Town

Our nephew Tyler was in town for a marathon week that included the speedpark, a baseball game, a drive-in movie, tubing, and camping.

Pics from Janelle/Caden's trip to Ohio