Downtown Chicago

This last weekend, we had a guest worship leader in town who stayed with my family and I. Taylor had never been to Chicago before so of course we had to have him check out a variety of the great food around here. We also tried to give him a small glimpse of this great city.

Here's a few of the pictures we snapped (yes, believe it or not, I took a few of these myself - though my wife's are the best).

Enjoy!

Never Ending Story - Update

I am impressed by the wit and creativity you all have unleashed on the previous never ending story post. Quite a humorous tale being concocted!

If you're not familiar with the story or if it's been a while since you've checked it out, you can catch up on it here.

Sorry, I just couldn't let the poor lunch lady bite the dust so soon in the story :)

What about the spindly man?

What's up with the ninja monkey wrangler? Why is he troubled?

Who's hat was thrown at the monkey?

What does all this have to do with ketchup?

You'll have to read and find out!
Thanks blog readers!
Peace?

Sloppy Joe: Never Ending Story

I convinced my kids the other day that it's pronounced SHloppy Joe and said more gravelly... besides it's more fun that way.

I hadn't had these since I was a kid and Kristen has never made them, so we decided to try a new recipe of these ol' favorites with the kids. Went better than I anticipated.

I think it helped that Kristen started this one-line story thing that entertained the kids while they ate spaghetti sauce on a bun.

So here's the deal: here's your chance to collaborate on a story with the other readers of this blog. Keep it clean (inappropriate comments will be deleted).

I'll start it like I started it with the kids the other night:

"The ketchup was good"

Your turn.
Four words only, building from the previous line to create a story.
Have fun.

Peace.

Weenie Whistle

We took this on Friday this last week.

I think my wife was more excited about seeing the Oscar Mayer Weiner Mobile than the boys were - they didn't really understand the whole thing.

They were not disappointed, however, to each receive the infamous weenie whistle.

Life has not been the same since.
Peace.

Found, Etc.

I've been pretty quiet on the blog lately, and a lot has happened this last couple of weeks - a very full couple of weeks.

For one, Kylee was able to recover the missing slipper for her mom. This has been a good thing and was found near the end of Kristen's stint of being sick. I fear I take too much that Kristen does for granted, which was very apparent during her illness.

Myself and a few of the musicians on my team played a party for one of our long time teammates. A lot involved with this but it was totally worth it... the whole thing had been organized as a complete surprise for his 50th birthday! Always proud to have my team rock the house!

Preparing for Christmas at The Orchard. Lots of prep and a lot of things that need to take place over the last week or so before the 24th. It's going to be amazing!

More later.
Peace.

* * WANTED * *

One pink, fuzzy slipper. It's owner has located the left but has been unable to find it's match.

Weight: nearly nothing.
Height: a couple of inches.

Distinguishing marks: let's just say well worn over the last 11 months. It also has (or perhaps now it's only had) white fuzzy trim and pom-poms.

The owner is in dire need of the second slipper due to the recent inclement weather conditions.

It's last known whereabouts include the hall and the local dog's layer. No sign of fowl (or canine) play has been discovered as yet, but nothing has yet been ruled out.

Last seen approximately 11/20/07.

If you have seen said matching slipper, please notify the owner immediately. No reward is currently being offered.

Peace.

I'm Back

Wow!! Finally back to the blog world on my Mac... I took a week-long vacation with my family. I, of course, had a lot of grand plans of books I was going to read, songs I was going to write and things I was going to get done, but time flies faster than I could have imagined.

I spent the first part of the week just chillin' with my wife and kids - watching cheap movies, cleaning out our basement and getting ready for our camping trip. We then spent the second half of of the week camping - tents and sleeping bags (though we were at a KOA so we had showers and indoor plumbing). We had a great time! Some good friends of ours joined us for part of our camping time and we had a blast. Rained a bit but not bad... until....

Torrential downpour on the morning we were breaking camp. Soaked to the bone and most of our camping gear drenched, we left for home, cutting our last day activities short. I would still count it as a great trip.

I actually had planned to do some serious blogging the first part of the week, but with my kids in shock that I was actually on vacation I decided to hold off until we went camping. The comment that got me was, "you mean you're really taking a vacation - from the Mac too?!?!"

Yeah.
Enough said.
I have a problem.

So needless to say, when we got to the KOA with the supposed wifi hotspot, I was disappointed to find the 'wifi' link was a plug in for a modem connection to your own dial-up service... who has dial-up anymore :) So, no blogging. Great time with my wife and kids though.

I love camping... the tents, the campfires, the s'mores, the marshmallow doughboys (if you've never had these, you have to try them), the fishing, the games... lots of good childhood memories. I am finding though as I get older that it would be much easier to go camping in an RV or something of the sort to eliminate the set up and break down time (not to mention give you some protection against the elements) but for now...

How about you? Anyone else like to go camping?
Good camping antidotes?

Have you taken a break lately just to spend undivided time with your family?
Peace.

Jones' Simpsonized

I jumped on the bandwagon here, but added a twist....

Here's my family simpsonized. It was the closest we could get at least (sorry Seth, they didn't have Mohawks available for kids).

Wanna try? Go here and check it out!
Let me know what YOU come up with.

Peace.






:))

From 6 to 4

We sat tonight at our small kitchen table to eat dinner together - just my wife and my boys.

I waited through check-in and security lines yesterday and watched my girls fly off to Arizona. They will be visiting my brother and sister-in-law and Kristen's Dad and Mom. I know they will have a good time. They left Chicago and arrived safely in Phoenix.

I have to say I was a little sad watching the wheels of the plane leave the ground. They will be gone for 17 days, which I think is way too long, but I didn't buy the tickets.

So it's my boys, my wife and I at home. We are having fun just the four of us but it is definitely different. There is not as much arguing. Not as much trash and debris. Not as much noise, which is odd because my boys are usually the cause of these things :) I think it's because the dynamic of our group has been altered.

Anyway, I miss my little girls who are not so little anymore, yet I look forward to the one-on-one time with my boys. At least we don't have to deal with the 103 degrees and 70% humidity!

Peace.

Two B-days and a Bunch of Craziness

Feels like I've been on a blogging hiatus lately. Lots to write about but too much going on to actually do it. For a summer month, July has started out full throttle! We usually have the summer slow down where we kind of 'coast' - not a lot of school work for the kids at home, not a ton of things to do (except yard work), and usually just maintaining the creative level at the church. We have been having a blast but haven't really slowed down.

I have two kids in sports (Seth in coach-pitch baseball and Kylee in Softball). They have been doing great and it's part of our homeschool PE program. We didn't realize when we signed them up that there would be a gazillion games for both of them every week, or that they would be 15-20 miles from our house! You live and learn I guess.

Faith went to camp for a week.
The girls are going to AZ for 17 days.
Josh and Kylee both just celebrated birthdays within a day of each other (Kristen had great posts for each of them).
Seth is losing or pulling his teeth for cash :)
Kristen is losing her teeth for cash too (the money just goes to the dentist :)

We've been running a new series at The Orchard and preparing for several upcoming events. The new series is called Rockin' The Orchard 2 and you can find details in an earlier post (and on our website). We are preparing for our BBQ and Baptism coming up in August. We have more than 80 people signed up to be baptized so far!! I'm trying to find a Blues/Rock band to play that evening as well so that we can add a third 'B' to the BBQ and Baptism.

We have been running Arts team auditions, building sets, learning new tunes, and doing some team coaching as well. I am deciphering through proposals for our auditorium upgrades so that we can get them in soon and have been dealing with consultants. We are getting ready for the fall and the launch of our third weekend service (Saturday nights)... I've actually even been exercising if you can believe that! Lots of fun, but busy.

So that's kind of the latest in a post! It is awesome to see the excitement my family has at what God is doing within our church family and our own.

How's your summer been so far?

Peace.

Fantastic Fourth

My wife already posted about our great day together as a family.
We had a lot of fun together.

I have a wonderful family - more than I could have asked our imagined. My hope is that July 4th, 2007 will be as great of a memory for my kids as it was for me.

I concur with my wife that it was one of the best fireworks displays I've ever seen. It can't get much better than sitting in the middle of a well kept golf course on a blanket with the fireworks exploding right in front of you and even right above you.

I tried to convince my kids that those who were executing the pyrotechnics were creative artists - they choose which part of the sky (canvas) to explode the fireworks, which colors and when. They also work with sound, anticipation, effects and use a combination of those things to draw the participant into what is happening.

I felt a connection for sure as a creative arts guy.
I can't say my kids did.
Hopefully they can block that part of the memory when they recall our time together :)

How was your Independence celebration?

Peace.

Monday Morning Madness

My wife had a dentist appointment this morning. She is not fond of the dentist office because of her anxiety about having her teeth worked on. I don't blame her, but I combat that by not going.

Since our kids are homeschooled, I got to teach my kids. Never thought grade school would be so challenging. It's not the school work itself, it's corralling the kids and keeping them focused.

Hats off to you teachers, including my wife - you all have got to be some of the most patient people around!

Although my youngest did pray for his mommy to have gas at the dentist office (I know what he meant but considering it was during a prayer the chuckles abounded).

Peace.

What is Heaven like?

I was sitting around the dinner table last night with my wife and kids, enjoying some great food. I love eating meals with my family... it seems like that's the time we talk about some cool things. Sometimes we talk about some pretty deep things and sometimes (most of the time) we joke and laugh and tell stories or our day.

Last night was one of the lighter-mood meals.

There was a lot of laughing, giggling, talking, and of course - eating. Somehow we started talking about what heaven would be like for each of us. It was just fun.

Apparently one of my daughters would have an endless stomach and be able to eat steak and chocolate whenever she wanted. My other daughter would have an endless supply of paper, pens, paints, brushes, and clay to be able to create masterpieces. My oldest son would have a huge screen and the coolest video games at his disposal. We all agreed that Kristen would have a large fluffy bed in a sun-filled, breezy room, with every best-selling book at her fingertips.

What is your idea of heaven?
Peace.

Birdie BBQ

Had to do it. They weren't coming back to the nest anymore.
So I torched it.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out my wife's post here, here and here. That should give you the idea :)

BTW, no birds were hurt in the making of this bonfire. I have a short video too for those who want it.

Peace.

A Date With Faith

Yet another of my children hooked on Starbucks... I really should start getting some type of commission from them for building future patrons :)

Got a chance to go out on a Daddy-Daughter date with my oldest, Faith, tonight. We made a deal with her and her siblings that after they read a certain number of books (for school) that they would get to go out on a date with their Mom or I to anywhere they wanted to go.

Faith chose Red Lobster because she's never had lobster and was curious what it tasted like. Probably not my first choice in terms of places to try this delicacy but more within the budget than other places. We had a great time! She's growing up fast and I very much enjoyed getting to spend some one-on-one time with her tonight. Of course no date or evening out on the town would be complete without a trip to Starbucks. Don't worry this one is also decaf (though she fought harder than her brother did the last time).

She's a great kid... er I mean young adult and I am very proud of her. She is very intelligent and very beautiful and I can see God already using her in awesome ways. I look forward to the years of ministry that are before her and to seeing her blossom as a Jesus follower. I hope that she got a glimpse of how a man should respect her and treat her when taking her out - when that day comes around in about 20 years (ok, ok, I'm sure it will be sooner than that but hey, I'm a dad!) Ha! Seriously she won't be dating :)

Peace.

Coffee Anyone?

Still trying to catch up on some of my blog posts while out in North/South Carolina....

The first day in NC, I found that I could not send any emails or upload anything using the connection at our friends place. I had lots of work to do and emails to respond to you know!

Off I went in search for a wifi connection that could give me the upload and email access I craved. No better place to go than to Starbucks.

I was pretty stoked that Statesville, NC actually had a Starbucks. So my son and I went in, I ordered some coffee and my asked my son if he wanted a hot chocolate. He asked if he could have coffee because he loves the sips that I give him sometimes. Now, I'm not in the habit of giving my children coffee, but he had agreed to go with me on my trek to find an internet connection while the others were too busy playing with friends.

I ordered him a tall decaf in a grande cup and poured a ton of cream into it. His eyes got as big quarters he was so excited! In fact, he was good the rest of the day to just pal around with me from place to place. That was a good thing since this Starbucks had NO WIFI! I was so bummed! I tried to 'borrow' someone else's connection they were using through their phone but it wasn't good enough.

We ended up going to another Starbucks in Mooresville, a Panera and even a McDonald's (can you believe that, wifi at McD's, though it was $3 for 2 hours). None of these sufficed though I got some things working at the McD's location. I finally figured a way to make it work though to this day I am still not 100% certain why I was having so many problems.

Do you think that God interacts with electronics to get us to take a break and slow down sometimes? I do, though it's hard for me to do.

Anyway, my son is now addicted to non-caffeinated Starbucks (maybe more because it's Starbucks than anything else). My wife informed me yesterday that she was walking into a grocery store with the kids when Seth said "Look Mom, there's a Starbucks in here... I wonder if they have decaf?"

Peace.

80's Hair Metal

My wife gave me this card for Valentine's Day earlier this week.

I laughed.
I cried.
I mostly laughed.

And then I ate a fabulous meal where everything was made into heart shapes and prepared by my wife and kids. It was great!

Peace.

He's My Son

My son Seth is turning out to be quite a ham in front of the camera.

Add one of his favorite songs, a new pair of headphones and a CD player (thanks Granny!) - this is the result.

He cracks me up! It's cool being a dad to this guy!

Peace.

What's Up Chuck?!

A shout out to my brother who turns 33 years-old today!

Happy Birthday Charlie!

Peace.

Attitude of Gratitude

Haven't blogged in a while... took a break to spend a little more time with my family this week. They are pretty amazing people! We spent a great day together this last Thursday. We shared a meal that my wife and kids all worked hard to prepare. It was fabulous! We then went to see a movie and since it was Thanksgiving day, we got the theater to ourselves... it was very cool. We topped the day off by having dessert with some good friends of ours. What a great day of thanks we shared together!

I guess posting about this kind of late just reminds me that giving thanks is not something that happens only at the holidays. An attitude of gratitude can be expressed 24x7. Thank you, God, for my family and for the blessings you have poured out on us!

Peace.