Well, My parents and Aunt made it just fine here on Sunday and yesterday we had lots of fun finalizing our unpacking…and then just enjoying each other as much as possible….Here is a picture of Halo getting comfortable with the new house…..
this is a “wow” sunset yesterday! It looked very much like the shot of heaven in the movie Constantine…with it breaking through the clouds…but I had to zoom the picture to make it even noticeable…and it made it blurry…but you all get the idea….
And lastly here is my wonderful family! We had to eat @ Frisch’s (thanks for the spelling Ben) Big Boy at least one time for my parents…because my Mom and Dad ate there on their Honeymoon and so my Dad had to order the hot Fudge Sunday for my Momma…even if she did not want it, heh…….Tiffany and my Aunt Harryette ate across from one another and all you could do is here them giggle and laugh…with their inside jokes…for some reason they both get along very well…maybe something about them both enjoying sweet sweet people (best summary of both of them) or maybe it is because they both enjoy Impish thoughts and smiles….what ever is the case…I sure do love having them both around…and having my parents here tops it all off….Now if we could have just got Sheila here and my Nannaw and Tom, heh…..oh well, that will have to wait until Christmas…heh….Well, I love you all and please have a wonderful week this week…and I sure that I will with my family in spoiling us with wonderful food and even better company….please don’t forget to smile at a stranger today and let them know you actually do care about them…(don’t’ just do it to do it, heh) love yall take care and KUTPs!!!!!!!!!! 
Well just one picture for yall today…… since we are still moving into our new home…we had to take today and go out and do some shopping…we first got a microwave…(best one that Consumer Reports for the money…and the we have been looking round since we decided to have a dedicated home theater some seating for it….We were looking all over the place for a love seat that would recline and that Tiffany and I could both sit in (and watch TV or movies……but everywhere we went we found that they were just too expensive..and the other huge problem we were having is that nothing we look at would be able to fit through the bedroom/HT room door….so we were stuck…then we saw dedicated HT chairs!!! And of course I drooled over them all..but alas the price was still not what we could afford…and after we had decided that we would bite the bullet and go for a couch or HT chairs (because they were comfortable, and all of them were on a rail system or the backs could be taken off and you could fit them into any room that way)….We decided to just check one more place and sure enough…we found these two that were left -overs of a custom order that went really bad and so they were trying to get them off their show room floor..and today I am glad to say we are very happy owners of two stink’n nice leather movie chairs!!! With cup holders on each arm and both recline!!!! So it is an open invitation for any of yall to come and visit us and enjoy these chairs…just make sure you only come two at a time, heh….Yall have a great night and God bless you all! never forget to….KUTPs!!!!!!!!!
Well, I finally got my computer up and running so here is going to be a big post with lots of pictures…heh…..(but now that my camera is empty of pictures I will take lots of our house before all the boxes are unpacked ands then after of course….. So here is Reese and Blake helping us the next to last day of packing up the Santa Fe house…..Reese was supposed to be making a mean face so the picture would look like those old timey (sp?) gun slinger photos…(because those are called Tape guns)…I was going for “mean”…Blake was going for “crazy”…and Reese…well…I think he was going for…”I hope my girlfriend see how cute I am”…….
Here is us packing up the house one night when lots of people came over to help and Tiffany wanted to take a picture of everyone looking down the back of my shirt and make faces at how much back hair I have……(lets just say that I am VERY hairy on me back! (I thank God everyday that Tiffany loved Magnum P.I. growing up…because he was so hairy…..I hated all the time hearing in High School when the girls would talk about how gross back hair was…(I just knew that all girls felt that way….but not Tiffany!!!!!! )…..
Here is Reese, Haley, and Holly (and Tiffany of course) on the last day of our packing up stuff…
OK here is me with the same crew…
And here is the nest of Halo our dog…he made the space under our bed such a mess…and I just thought I cleaned it each week…I found feminine products, torn up money, glass, plastic, and get this I can’t believe it…but lots and lots of hair…probably from me and the dog and cat, heh…..
Well, here is Pop with his dog Matilda! This dog was very cute and very hyper…until she settled down and Halo loved being with her while he was staying with them…..
See what I mean…trying to take a pic of Toni and Eddie and Matilda…and Halo had to be put in there too, heh…..
here is Halo and Matilda playing with a dog toy…notice they both think that the toy is theirs, heh…..
here is a dark but good picture of the cross stitch that Tiffany worked on for so long to give her Grandmother…. she even changed the colors and added a little bit of stuff…impressive to start doing your own…(well…at least for me it would be, heh)….
And here is Tiffany with her Nana…and her Nana loved the cross stitch…..
And I just had to put this one in….I will let you know that the person wearing these slippers (they are Tiffany’s btw) was the only other man living in her house other than me…heh …..
Here is Tiffany saying good bye…..
And between our driving from Lovington to Floydada we stopped by to sign the Wedding Certificate (that I forgot to sing when I did their wedding, heh) And you all have already seen Ryan…but here is Sarah too…oh and Tiffany of course…. (Congrats again to yall!!!!)….
Well, here is an example of how flat West Texas is…and it is this flat in 360 degrees! Hard to imagine for some of you I am sure….
And a Tornado when through (just south of Floydada) the Thursday before we got there is I tried to show you the after math of a house and the trees too…but this blurry pic is all I got…but those threes used to be full of leaves…and the electric poles were being fixed and replaced all over the place…it was crazy!!!….
and I had to take one more West Texas sunset before I left…. these are what I used to live for…(because it meant that I could get out of the cotton field I was working in and go home, heh….
Here is my Nanaw holding up the blanket that Tiffany made for here….(I think that Tiffany might love my Nanaw just a little less than I do….noe one can love her has much as I do, heh….) Oh and Tom is laughing over there on the right…we gave Nanaw the blanket for her birthday and Tom some food money for him to get to go eat out…. sure do love yall!!!……
Here is me in a Hastings…similar to a Media Play type of place…and they only allow you to put your hand in the case and look at the back of the game boxes…but you can’t steal them…Tiffany thought it was so funny she made me take a picture of it…… it almost looks like I was trying to steal t and then that glass door came slamming down…heh…..
Here is a Tornado shelter in a rest stop that Tiffany and I stopped at on the way to see her Aunt and Uncle…. I love Tornadoes…not for their destruction or cause of loss of life…but for their power and amazing way they form and last and then die…it just fascinates me….but I bet that not too many of you can say that their is a tornado shelter in the rest stops around your area, heh….I think this was some where close to the TX, OK border…..
these hue wind generators were right beside the road…again I can’t remember where they were but they are huge…
Here is Tiffany with her mom, and her Aunt Patti, and Uncle Gus…..we stayed with them our first night away from TX in Grove, OK….they were so sweet!…..
Here we are reading to leave to go on the next part of our journey…..
Here is a very poor picture of St. Louis…you might be able to see the arch if you click on the picture… that is what I was hoping for…but not sure if you can see it…
And lastly Joe our Truck Driver with all of our boxes and stuff…let Tiffany see his truck and even let her sit in his chair… He was a sweet guy and as you can see Tiffany loved sitting in the big rig, heh…..Well, yall have a great day today…and I am not going to get back to un-packing all of our boxes…so far we have the computer and lots of the kitchen…one bed, and one bath up and going…. so needless to say..lots more to go, heh….KUTPs!!!! and be looking for pictures of the house with al the boxes everywhere…and then two years from now more pictures with all the boxes opened, heh….yall take care!!!!
Hey everyone…well we got our house packed up and cleaned…and boy do I mean cleaned!!! Dang it was clean! and we spent two days with Tiffany’s parents in Loving Ton, NM…and then headed over to spend two days with my parents….(they will be a long distance away from us moving back to KY so we wanted to spend as much time with them as possible….
So we leave tomorrow to drive to Grove. OK to spend one night @ Tiffany’s Aunt and Uncle’s house! (BTW: Tiffany’s Mother will be traveling up there with us to go to a family reunion in St. Louis on Friday…(funny we are going to miss the reunion by one day…but the moving company tells us when we have to be there for the move…not the other way around sooooo, we have to leave Friday morning to drive from St. Louis and get to Cold Spring that evening.
So…in other words we are doing just fine and everything is going OK! Thank you all for caring and can’t wait until the move stuff is over and then yall get to hear about us unpacking boxes of the next year until we finish, heh…..
Yall take care and God bless ya! Remember……..KUTPs!!!!!!
(oh and…Nannaw I love you sooo much…and thank you so much to you and Tom for letting us see you both so much!!! Love you too Momma and Daddy…you both have no idea how much you mean to me!!)
OK well, before you look any further I want to encourage you to go read the last two sermons I did…one a wedding one and the other my last communion (and last period for that matter) @ St. John’s…because my last Sunday was yesterday……OK with that said here are al the pictures from Tiffany and my trip to Annual conference in Las Cruces! Here is Tiffany with her Aunt!!! This lady is wonderful and quite cute too if I do say so myself, heh….
Here is a picture of what a United Methodist Annual conference looks like…well at least during one of the worship services…heh This was one of several services that they put on for every Pastor and several laity of each church found in the New Mexico Annual Conference…which includes basically the entire state of New Mexico and a little bit of Texas. this picture really does not do it justice…but if you are United Methodist and you have not been to one of these you really do need to go and see the connectional church at work… (oh and there are lots of meeting times…so if you don’t have to I would not go to those…well, unless you like that stuff…and I actually do..but Tiffany just sits there and cross stitches or crochets (sp?) Oh well…at least she sat by me, heh….
Here is TC Broom and Heath…and of course Tiffany…TC along with another really good pastor friend of mine were ordained as a Elder in Full connection!!!! Congrats guys….BTW: Tiffany and I both will be an Ordained Elder and Deacon in Full connection next year…as long as me meet all the requirements…and I can see that happening very easily! As you can see TC and I like to stick out our tongue..and you should see Heath’s baby boy…..
Speaking of Heath’s Baby boy!!!! heh heh heh….he loved feeling my clipped hair…and so I did what any desiring to be father would do….let me do it as much as he wants to, heh…. he is stinking cute!!!!
Here is the other guy I love so much after the ordination service with his family…David has been an accountability friend of mine for a while now (at least since I have been in NM) and it is so great to see him happy and an official Elder in Full Connection! Congrats David…and what an amazing family (I love his wife’s head sticking out of his left arm in the picture, heh)!!!!
here is the example of a District meeting within the Annual Conference…it was a good meeting and it sure was good to be able to thank everyone for their prayers and support for Jay and our family!!! lots and lots of wonderful people in this room!
I wish I would have remembered to take this picture before we were leaving Las Cruces…but here is a dictrict picture of the mountains around Las Cruces….they are so striking and amazing…..and they are different than the mountains around our house here in Santa Fe…..
Well, here is a picture that my mother made Tiffany and me take. This is our front yard…and I was trying to do some last minute weeding in the flower garden that I have worked on over the last two years…….the roses and al the flowers look great and it is really sad to leave them…but who knows maybe the church in Highland Heights will let me do a little gardening…..
and here is another one of me trying to look manly in my flower garden…not sure if I pulled it off..but hey who cares… heh…..
Now here is a sign I saw on the way to Annual Conference and oh man…I just had to purchase this drink…..I had to go get some….Pimp juice!…..
Just one sip and I guess you become a pimp…but actually I just had to buy it for the laughs….it is supposed to be an energy drink…and it did not taste bad (but I still like my Bawls better)…. Oh man…some days I still question if God knew what he was doing calling me into the ministry, heh heh heh….but I have to admit…I sure do love living with Christ in this world!!!!
and I had to put this picture in here because when Tiffany got out of the car on our way back from Annual conference she busted my Bawls. Oh well, I still have another bottle…just in case I need to stay awake on the drive to KY! (she sure is cute, heh) (love you girl!)
Well, yesterday afternoon Tiffany’s church youth had a good-bye party for her and so the rest of these pictures are from that party…but I had to show yall what the youth and sponsors did @ 6:15 Sunday morning for Tiffany……(background) there is a huge rock in the middle of the main intersection in White Rock that anyone has rights to paint at any time…and most of the time it is a way to tell someone happy Birthday or what ever…and the youth painted the rock on Saturday…but graduation happened between the time they painted it for her (and the seniors painted over Tiffany’s good-bye sign) the last time and Tiffany did not have time to see it….so they all woke up early and @ 6:15 am Sunday morning before church they re-painted the rock so Tiffany could see it… they are so sweet! I think it is very cool!!!!!! Makes you want to go find a huge rock and put it in your town….
Here are two of the boy’s playing with light sabers, heh…one has a mouth full of the “force” heh…
Here are a few of the girls….
and one more…..
here is Tiffany for a unbelievable moment!!!! This is Patrick (sp?) and he has never EVER let Tiffany hug him…probably because he is “too good for her” heh…but tiffany snuck in a hug and Tiffany has been waiting for it for the entire time she has been @ White rock, heh…. you can tell she loved ever second of it, heh….
Here is the amazing view from the home that the party was at!!! Oh man… I have a feeling it might be a long time in the ministry to find a parsonage in KY that has a view like this one, heh……
Here is me eating the head of a kitten…..it looks cruel I know…but you should have seen this kitten…I could yell right in front of its face and it would just stay sleep in my arms and not even care about it at all. I would pick it up or try to wake it and nothing worked…so I wondered if I could eat it alive and see if it would wake up…but nope it stayed asleep…it was very cute….and no I do not eat cats….knowingly that is…(well, you just never know in some international restaurants, heh)
Well, the last picture here is of little Yorkies (sp?) We stopped by one of the youth’s houses and their dogs just had two baby Yorkies….and man were they cute…here is one getting some milk from Momma, heh….they are sweet and I really just had to put this picture on here from my mother-in-law because she loved them so much….well……This will probably be my last post until I get my computer set up and going in KY so I have no idea how long it will be until I am up and running, but I hope to take some pictures along the way and let you all know how the drive went…We are packing up our house as I type and the truck comes to load it up on Thursday….we should be in KY some time between the 15th and the 18t….we are just waiting for the driver to tell us when he will show up @ our house in KY, heh…..Well, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers…and know that we love all yall reading this…you have no idea how much we appreciate your love and care for us and now since I will be so close to the Reds and Bengals…yall just need to send me a phone call or email and contact us…so we can prepare you a place to stay! love yall, take care…and hope to post again sometime within the next three weeks! Good-bye for now….and as always…… KUTPs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey everyone!
I wanted to put up the sermon that I preached yesterday and the wedding sermon from my friend Ryan’s wedding…. Just in case you want to feel romantic, heh…or not…heh…..
Well here are the sermons and the pictures from Annual conference are going to be coming up in the next post….and then I will be shutting down my computer until I plug it back in @ KY which will probably be around next week some time probably later in the week than sooner…because Tiffany and I have to unload all of our boxes and such.
(Warning…You must have Adobe Reader installed on your computer to read these sermons….you can find the link to DL it on the right side of the blog below the favorite links….AND…..both sermons are short because in a wedding and communion it is best to make them short.)
Ryan and Sarah’s wedding sermon:
The Life Of The Party!
The last sermon @ St. John’s UMC (It is a communion sermon):
Food For Thought…..and Life!
OK well, there you go and now I will go do the pictures from the last few days……KUTPs!!!!!!
Well, Tiffany and I are in our second day of Annual conference and it is all going well. It is amazing how many people know that we are going to be serving in the KY Conference. Actually, it is funny how people make so many ignorant assumptions about why we are going to go serve in KY. It truly is amazing…. We heard comments like, “Why are you running away from us?” or using the terms, “jumping ship”, “deserting”, “bailing”….. wow wow ….and to tell you the truth..the comments as innocent as they were, hurt…..
If God calls you into a life of ministry….and I believe that I abandon my life and family totally to God…and if God calls you to a certain calling (church planting) then I think if you are filled with any kind of wisdom…then you will not only accept that call, but follow in the leading of God into what ever situation He is calling you. Sometimes it maybe into a promise land…sometimes into a encampment of way more soldiers than God’s people have…but you go none the less. You look at all the nay sayers and you say, “I think we can take them!…..with God on our side”. All too often the United part of the Untied Methodist Church has been assumed, but when the rubber meets the road people tend to cling to “their land” or “their conference” but the truth is just like every pew and every local church it is all God’s….and if God calls you out of “your” land and away from “your” people, “your” family….then you go…not excited about leaving…but in trust, hope, and faith.
Please make no mistake about it….we are following God’s leading…and God’s direction for our lives just so happens to be in Northern KY…where people need to live and experience God’s grace and love, and the community that his presence provides in his church. My calling not unlike all Christians is to offer this holy community, this place of rest, comfort, challenge, and most of all love to those who are living lives with out this mysterious presence of a dead but still alive savior. To allow them to wrestle and soak in the mystery that is grace, life, and love to the fullest of their extent.
I and Tiffany go to follow Christ…to seek and save the ones searching for wholeness, to Florence, Union, and Highland Heights. To where the presence of God is needed and will be provided by those who desire to offer Him to anyone who will listen and question and grow……to live out our calling to empower others to become disciple making disciples with the help and grace of God (Father, Spirit, and Son).
This move is about calling, not running….and besides if it was about running I have a feeling God might just send a Whale to chew on us awhile until we see His direction and leading. We follow God out of love, not out of despise or regret.
I hope and pray that all of you who read this are following God’s direction and leading for your lives! It is a nudging that will not only look “different” or “against the flow/norm” but crazy…and if it is done for the name and life of Christ to be lived out into this world and do it with fervor…grace, and most of all love…. to go into the mysterious love of God…because “I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39.
It is my prayer that all of you experience the love of Christ that is greater than anything, or anyone you have ever experienced….except Christ”.
Ok, the soap box has been removed…I will try to remember to take more photos tomorrow so you can all see what an annual conference looks like….it really is not too bad…lots of worship and business…heh heh….yall take care and God bless ya! Please as always….KUTPs!!!!
