O.C.P.

One of these things is not like the others

So I finally mustered up the courage and got in a pick-up game at our local park. Not a good showing. I air-balled my first shot and was then shunned by my team like a leper for the rest of the game. I never got the ball after that.
Personal Stats today: 0 points, 1 rebound, 1 turnover, 0 assists
I can only go up from here

Finger paint or finger food?

Then and Now

Caden in his float a year ago and this week. Who is the whale now?

We're not sure, but by the looks of it, Caden just peed just in the pool

Hey Jude

Congrats to Matt and Deanna for the arrival of the second child, Jude Matthew. Like his brother Christian, Jude decided to come a bit early (3 weeks) proving that procrastination is not a gene passed on to children.
You can see some pics of Jude here

O.C.P.

Caden and Maddy

Arranged Marriage???

Pates and Sutphins reunite!!

Girls Night

Caden and I retreated to safer ground (my parents) while the girls took over the house for the night

Security....Shovel?

Caden had fun in his new sand box, but got a little attached to the rake and shovel. He ended up falling asleep clutching them with each hand. It took some coaxing to pry them out after he got up.

Wii had fun

Chris brought a Nintendo Wii over and it proved to be fun for the whole family

Here is me sporting my sweet bowling kick

Mothers Day 07

Kait and her peeps

The Pate boys

Janelle and Mandy (chris' wife)

Put your caption here

My brother was in town, so we got a friendly game of football going in the backyard. Should be good fodder for some captions. Put yours as a comment below.....

Caden doing his impression of Atlas

The 2 Towers

the Orange Conference

Janelle and I, along with some friends and collaborators from our church, went to the Orange Conference in Atlanta for the past few days. The Orange Conference is about seeking out how the church can be relevant and engaging in their community.
Had a great time, came back a little shaken, a bit inspired, and grateful for the opportunity. Below are some of reflections on some of the big ideas….

the 2nd greatest commandment

Francis Chan (from Simi Valley, CA) talked about the challenge of living out the 2nd great commandment and the journey he and his church are taking trying to wrestle with it.
Simply: Love your neighbor as yourself.
I am staggered by that statement if I try to really play that out in my life. What would that look like? How would that reshape my life, my priorities, my spending, and my time? Yet this isn’t a request.
Jesus sums up God’s plan for us in these few words: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
It demands my attention, and frankly it scares the hell out of me.
Chan’s church is taking a revolutionary approach to playing this out. Their stance is this: If we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves, wouldn’t it make sense to spend as much money on their neighbor (community) as we did on ourselves. So they are implementing a 50/50 budget. Half is invested back in the church, and half is set aside to meet community and global needs. Despite that church budgets are by nature constrained, this church is committed to making whatever cuts needed to live this out. So instead of building a huge new complex as originally planned, they are skimming down and building an outdoor venue….so they can give more money away.
This haunts me…because I think most of us, if we were honest, would admit that we are inherently selfish. That most of our day, time, and resources are centered around our own petty (in the grand scheme of things) wants and desires.

What if we started taking the Bible literally?
What if we started loving our neighbors as ourselves?

the power of story

Donald Miller, a favorite author of mine (Blue like Jazz), shared about the power of story in our culture.
Essentially, a good story has three parts:
1) The protagonist has to want something. What is the goal, dreams, or ambition of the main character? In other words, if the protagonist dies, what dies with them?
It also has to be interesting. Someone saving up to buy a new Volvo isn’t a page-turner; however someone with a goal to build 1,000 wells in Africa is a bit more riveting (bloodwatermission.org).
2) There must be some kind of conflict or tension that puts what the protagonist wants in danger. Conflict is essential and always a part of a good story
3) Resolution – how does it end? Sometimes a good ending is when the good guy doesn’t win.

What if we applied the rules of a good story to our life? God invites us to live out a good story. Am I working toward an ambition/dream/goal that is worthy of a good story? Would the blurb of my life be an interesting story that I would want to read?
Secondly, what kind of story are we creating for our family? The issue is that we are all looking for a good story, so unless we consciously creating and living a good story, our kids, or even our spouses may look for a better story somewhere else.

So what is your story? Or maybe, what do you want your story to be?

interesting links

Here are a few links of some organizations that are making a difference, that I came across while at the Orange Conference

fermiproject.org
A group dedicated to repairing the disconnect between culture and the church. A movement that is pushing the church to be part of creating and engaging culture, not just duplicating or copying it in a vain attempt to be relevant.

tomsshoes.com
Blakely Mycoskie was an Amazing Race contestant that decided to go back to some of the countries that he had been in during the show. The poverty moved him into action, especially because he noticed that so many kids didn’t own a single pair of shoes.
So he decided to do something about it and created a company. For every pair of shoes someone buys, he gives away a pair of shoes to less fortunate children.
This year, he will be hand delivering 60,000 pairs to needy children and their families.

ladybugfoundation.ca
A foundation started by a 6 year old girl that wanted to do something about the homeless in her community. Makes me feel like a total waste of space

donaldmillerwords.com

belmontfoundation.org
An organization that Donald Miller is involved in to help meet the crisis of the fatherless children in America through mentors

from zero to hero

Caden turned 1 yesterday. Here is the cake that Janelle made for the occasion.

Here is the before and after of Caden's smash cake. He is a passionate eater