OK, here is the video of my presentation in Central TX Conference called YASummit.com the presentation ws called: Creating Community From Nothing! Enjoy:
Well, life is moving along nicely. We have unpacked the majority of boxes that were already in the house when we made the first move and now we just need to start tackling the boxes that are taken up our garage space! Right now we can not park either car in it and it is killing me…I am not one of those people that use their garage fr storage…it is a 2 car garage and I want to use it for that purpose. So, still we have lots of work ahead, but it is al happening and going well.
I mowed the lawn yesterday before the rain and cold temps hit, and I realized that was the first time I mowed a lawn since High School. (the past few years we were in school, living in Santa Fe (where there is no grass), or living in the parsonage in Cold Spring where the church paid for someone to come and mow it for us…and so we had to go buy a lawn mower and I mowed yesterday.
(man it really hurts when you have to buy something that you know you need, but will always hate using it) ha ha ha ha…..
Well, OK here are the pictures I promised:
Here was the flowers in front of Florence UMC last Sunday… man thsis was amazing! I think that it might die now with the next 5-6 days dropping below freezing, but it sure was nice to look at while it lasted!
I love st. E.’s and I do not think that I could take enough pictures of the building… I really love it there…so here is a few straight up looking at it’s highest dome window.
(if anyone is interested please join us @ the Easter Vigil to be held there this Saturday evening from 9:00pm til 12:00 midnight…for more info go to Th3 Harbor.
i saw this car in the parking lot of Joseph-Beth Booksellers, and man I had to take a picture of it…what a repair job!! nice tape work going on there…I just had to show of someone’s skills at car repair. (this is almost as god as Tiffany’s Dad fixing the paint job of his car with a Sharpie marker.
And ow for the highlight of the week (so far)
For anyone that does not know this about me….I LOVE the weather!!! i serisouly considered being a meteorologist growing up along with a chef, Dr., and Christian Music marketing man)…. but the weather has always thrilled me…mostly because growing up in West TX tornadoes are a fact of live each year right around this time of year…and man, if I was not chasing them, I was wanting to… and that is how I got my love of weather… well, one day while looking at a book about clouds, I saw an amazing cloud formation that I thought was just too cool. They were called Mammatus Clouds! (to learn more about them just follow that link) And I saw something that looked like this picture:(yes, this is a real picture)
And that is why I freaked out yesterday when I got to see these clouds in the sky with my very own eyes, and I had to take my own pictures of them:
and lastly:
So needless to say my day was awesome yesterday! Anywho… I hope your Holy weeek is going well! I know it will get very busy starting tomorrow night for me:
Thursday: Maunday Thursday Worship 7:30 pm
Friday: Friday night OG
Saturday: Easter Vigil 9p-12midnight
Sunday sunrise: 7am
Sunday 2 services: 9a and 11a
Sunday evening OG: 5p
and then Monday OG: 7:30p
So, I don’t know what your weekend looks like, but I hope it is not as tiring as mine will be, but more importantly… I pray that you do worship somewhere this weekend, and may you be blessed so you like Abraham before you can be a blessing to others! KUTPs!!!!
Here is a video of the clouds too:
GREAT news…..
For the past 2-3 weeks Tiffany has been praying about a new ministry opportunity. There is only one ministry opportunity that she would have ever openly considered, and that ministry is one that would be an opportunity for us (a ministry couple) to be in full time ministry together. Tiffany has been a part of Th3 Waters all along, but I have not been able to be a part of her youth ministry and church as much as I would have loved to be. And we knew graduating seminary that we would only be our full potential to God and the Kingdom if we were in ministry together.
A few weeks ago Florence UMC (the church I help out with on Sundays and Wednesdays, and is sponsoring/supporting Th3 Waters) open two new positions for their staff. One of them was for a Youth and Children’s Director/Pastor, and we realized that we might have an opportunity to be able to live out our full potential for our combined calling of being a ministry couple.
Tiffany, applied for the position and interviewed for the position, and the Sr. Pastor Gary called Tiffany Sunday night offering her the job!!!!
Tiffany accepted and she starts the new position March the 15th!! While this is wonderful news…and she will get a $1,000 raise (woo hoo we are going to go hog wild on that extra $40 per check. heh heh) another piece of news is that since we currently live in the parsonage of Asbury, that means we need to move out by the 15th…also Florence UMC would give me a housing allowance and a utility allowence.
So, we had to make a decision…do we rent, lease, or buy a home. And after tons of prayer and crazy thoughts…we decided to buy..and we started looking!
Well, yep, we made an offer, the countered, and then made another one and they accepted!!! So you want to see it? Here you go:
That was the Upstairs and the downstairs tour is below:
and you can go to the Flickr page to check out a few photos of the home:
Well, I hope that that explains a little bit of the crazy life we have just had over the past couple of weeks….
oh and Tiffany’s hip Dr. looked at the MRI’s and told us that he thinks that it is just hurting worse because that is what happens when you have a hip that was not right to beginning with when you were born. The Dr. has prescribed water therapy and a hormone shot directly into her hip socket to see if that helps with pain. It is not fixed…but we are trying to get it taken care of one day at a time!
So, we hope to meet the inspector @ the house Thursday morning and pray that there is nothing that is horrible about the house, waiting for the loan stuff to get finalized and finished, and then close hopefully by March 7th!
Then we get to paint 2-3 rooms and then get to move in…so needless to say we are excited, blessed, and our check book is not as happy as we wish it was…but we are just getting to live a little more life of faith. oh and did I mention that we can’t wait to get to meet our new neighbors?!!! Excited, excited, excited!
Well, I must confess, I gained 10 lbs this holiday between the great food of one mother and one mother-in-law…..(and man it was almost worth it, heh….. so anyway it felt so good to get back on track at the track, heh. You really have no idea how much you miss it until you get to do it again. I noticed this was the first time I ran since Oct. 31st!!!! Holy cow that is a long time, but I guess that is what a torn hamstring, tendonitis, death of a loved one, Thanksgiving, and Christmas will do to ya, heh…. but my new year resolution is to loose 65 lbs by the middle of next year!
So with that goal in mind…I need all of you to hold me accountable!!! Desperately! So…. Nike and Apple listened to me and they created a widget for the blog that will show all of you my workout progress and the gaol I have set for myself. It is over there on the right side of the blog… you can see that I set my goal for Jan. to be 15 miles…. I run on average a mile a day 4-5 days a week, so I hope to reach this goal for the month…and I have said that if I do not reach my goal then I will not drink any soda at all in the month of Feb….. so here goes the fun!!!
OK, also I added my Video blog to the bottom of the blog, as well as, gave this blog some Bawls…. I knew it had some, but I just wanted to make sure everyone knew that it had two and notice they are sugar free too, heh…
Oh….and if anyone has a Nike+ iPod adapter (or got one for Christmas)…and would like to join in the challenges I have created or the ones I am in…please just email me and I will add you to be invited! Thanks!
Yall have a wonderful week, and keep an eye on that running progress for me…I need all the accountability I can get! Oh and if you ever eat with me make sure I do not eat any carbs….well, a low amount of this if possible…thanks! KUTPs!!!
Well, Today is my brother Jay’s Birthday. For those of you who don’t know he passed away a few years ago, and in honor of my brother I am going to go eat Indian food today with Tiffany, heh… We really should not be eating out and be good about our money and just eat at home..but I am sure we will do it anyway, heh… But it got me thinking…. are we going to celebrate birthday’s in Heaven? I know someone asked Jesus if there was marriage in heaven…and the answer was “no” (fine by me I guess. I love my wife, but I love my God more…and she loves me even more because of that fact, heh)…. but what about Birthdays? They do seem a little selfish…being alabout us…..but it in reality should be able our praise for God allowing us to have this life….well, I guess I will just find out when I get there, heh…. what do yall think? Oh and Happy birthday Jay….if yall celebrate it there, heh heh…..
It also sure is a good excuse to go get some good food, heh….
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Well, here are the ton of videos from our Christmas that I promised…. They are all on YouTube so you can find them there too….but in no particular order here they are…..(and yes i realize that this is mainly for my family…but they are probably my most active readers so I get to sho them some love too!…..
Here is the Cutter Cam @ Rudy’s in Austin TX. Rudy’s is a very good BBQ place all over TX and a few in NM, and this is how serious TX is about it’s BBQ….they have a live camera showing them cut the BBQ while you wait in line…love it!
Stop Spitting
Here Is Caleb my nephew telling his grandfather (who is pestering him) to stop spitting! Then tiffany tries to pester him by saying the (not allowed words, “shut up”) It is funny because he knows “shut up” is not supposed to be said, but instead of telling Tiffany to not say those words…he tells Tiffany that pop (his Granddad) should not say that word, heh.
We Don’t Say That Word…Because That Is Naughty
Finally Tiffany got him to tell her not to say that word…and we heard this all the time when we were down there…Tiffany loved it…so so se would purposefully say the “naughty” words to hear him say it, heh.
My Nephew the future rocker…he has great stage presence!
So here is my mother-in-law opening up the gift Tiffany and I (mostly Tiffany) gave her…and then Caleb my nephew gets a little confused as to how he should play with it…it just made me miss my dog Halo. ha ha ha…..
So here is my Father-In-Law opening up a present from my wife. It is a huge home-made bobble head of Tiffany. It was @ her church’s bazaar and Tiffany bought it so that no one could get it….so she gave it to her father….and man…every time he looks at it…man those eyes crack me up…I would be doing the same thing….
Now here is my side of the family, and here is my nephew and his Dad attacking me and then fighting each other…kind of scary. But very cute.
And lastly I had to put up one Wii video and this time was my Nephew boxing..and doing a very fine job at it, heh…
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Well, yall have a wonderful MLK Jr. Day…and watch a historic video or two to remember a wonderful man!
i took this video of halo popping a balloon from my birthday (sorry Alicia)…and man it cracked me up….he had so much for for the VERY short time that he had it….and before i took it away from him, heh…. but anyway here it is…and you can tell he loved it….
oh and the shift key is not working right now on my computer and that is the reason the only time you see capital letter is when i turn on the caps lock and then off again…and it is killing me so i will just go one for now…
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speaking of halo…we had his teeth cleaned and while he was under they took off his dewclaws i guess that is what they are called….well everything went fine until we got home and he ripped out the bandages…and then this morning i looked down and his right foot was swollen to 4 times its normal size and noticed that they put the bandage on his foot too tight…and then when we called the vet they said to just take off the bandage and continue to keep giving him his antibiotics and pain medicine…and guess what they never gave us pain medicine….so poor halo went without pin meds and a swollen foot all night last night…and that was after we went back to the vet three times to get a collar that would still fit him and be long enough for him to not reach back and rip out his own stitches…anyway he is doing much better now…even though he has that plastic collar around his neck that he hates…but the bandages are off, the swelling is gone, and he seems to be a much better puppy dog now…but he has to wear that collar for 7-14 days and then we take him back t get the stitches out…and still not sure how that is going to go with us leaving next Monday to go home for Christmas…anyway… he is much better and i must now go to bed for church tomorrow….. kutps….God bless yall…
here is a picture of halo looking at me through the book case before the bandages came off almost asking me to please let him rip them off….please daddy please…..
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oh and on our way out the door to go to the Friday night OG Tiffany’s new purse broke and so she had to give what was supposed to be a surprise Christmas gift early…i got her with my parents a seatbelt bag purse…and very cool…and yes momma and daddy he loved it…sorry that she broke her other one and i had to give it to her early….and then i turned on my tv and it looks like the blue cannon that makes the picture look so amazing ly clear and hd…is really messed up and i have no idea how it got to be that way…..aaarrrggggg….and there is no way that we have enough money to replace the t.v. so between my dog and t.v. and wife’s purse all breaking in one evening life is still going well, and we had a great time tonight going to the nursing home with the Friday night og and then everyone came over and had Texas chili and played the wii…well the guys played the wii while the women went out to shop, heh…. and then we now have 3 wonderful people staying at our house from their ski trip…and i am very tired…..so it is off to bed and work tomorrow…..so yall have a great week and i hope to post something before Christmas…oh and did i mention that my laptop latch is broke so it will not open properly…it works ok but is not where it should be…so i will have to take that in to get fixed and they have to ship it out and then ship my laptop to my parents house for me to be able to use while i am there….oh well merry Christmas everyone and God bless ya….kutps
so the last Monday night OG I took over my Wii to Matt’s house and my Wii went over well….so well that I wanted to show yall some videos of the games played….
as you can tell Alicia’s form in boxing is amazing…
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Christian’s form and athletic abilities are out of this world…..
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here Alicia was told by me that I wanted to see some trash talking, but in the end she took it out on me, heh heh heh…..
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here Matt and Christian have a Wii tennis volley challenge…tons of fun…..
yall have a wonderful night take care and God bless ya KUTPs….
Well our Thanksgiving dinner went wonderful1 We did not have as many people as we would have liked to come over…but Sean is VERY welcome company and we had plenty of food for the three of us!
here is a video of the feast:
And of course there was much sleeping ging on afterwards…darn you Turkey and food making us tired…but as you can see Halo was the most tired of all of us….
(and yes that is Sean he is sleeping on)
And of course it is that time of te year for the winter leaves to hang on for dear life….
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But here comes the good part. I asked Sean if he would want to join me in waiting in live for a Nintendo Wii? His Uncle is a worker of a gmaing company and with a littl ebit of loving letus know there were only 6 Wii Nintendo machines a this store and that if we wanted one we better get there VERY early! And so @ 11:30 p.m. Thanksgiving night we decided to go by the store and see if anyone was lining up to get a Wii…if there were we would get out and wait with them if there were less than 6 people, and when we drove by no one was there…so we went back to my house plained a little Gears of War, watched (with Tiffany) one episode of Grey’s Anatomy and then we were off to go look again… So this time it was 1:45 a.m. the morning of Black Friday and we got there to find 3 people in live ahead of us!!! So we go tout and waited…and waited and waited and waited…and then it just kept getting colder and colder…(26 degrees is what it got down to). Eventually around 3:30 am I had to sit down so I got in the car and went and got chairs for everyone that was standing with us. And so here is the video I took about 2 hours before the store opened @ 7:00 am: (note there were more people by this time that just the original 4.)
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And Yes Here is the De-thaw from the Wii Black Friday Victory! Special thanks to Sean who did not ever buy a Wii, but stood out there all night long in the freezing cold just to give me company..and listen to Podcast together! Here we are at our after party in the car:
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Well, I hope yall’s Thanksgiving and Black Friday went well! We have been having a ton of fun with the Wii today and I am sure that the youth group and the Hollums family will be putting it to good use during the next few years…Tons O Fun….sure do love yall, thankful for yall, and God bless yall!….KUTPs!!!
